Marvels Of Science
by ElfinKnight
Summary: Bucky returns with enough memory recovered to recall that Steve is his lover. He immediately requests Steve and the Avenger's help in rescuing his daughter from the clutches of Hydra. However, the mission reveals how devious Hydra truly is and the Avengers find themselves learning the new battle of parenthood.
1. Chapter 1

**This is a fan made story. I don't own the rights to Captain America, any of its characters or any characters within the MCU… Much to my disappointment. This will have some violent content and possible triggers. Steve/Bucky Established Relationship. Constructive criticism is welcome but if you don't like it simply because you don't like the line of thinking, please don't attack me for it.**

 **Author's Note: This is taking place a few months after Age of Ultron and thus from that point on is AU. Also, I refuse to accept Pietro's death so it didn't happen in this world.**

Chapter 1: The Return

Steve juggled the groceries in one hand as he slotted his key into the lock with the other. After he opened the door he entered and shut it just as swiftly. The groceries were put on the counter of his Brooklyn condo. As Steve turned to the door to lock it he found it now open, just an inch but that was enough set his guard on high alert. He quickly shut and locked the door before kneeling to pull a .22 from the sheath around his ankle. Natasha had given it to him for his birthday last year and he had taken to wearing it when he felt like he was being followed.

Steve quickly scanned the kitchen before moving towards the small living room area around the corner. Before he could look around the corner, a metal arm reached out and swiftly yanked him forward. The light from the kitchen was the only light provided in the apartment, meaning that his attacker was just a shadow. Steve had resisted on instinct but his attacker had moved too swiftly and had the gun out of his hand and his arm behind his back secured with the metal hand. His attacker moved in closer and whispered, "It's ok, Steve. I remember."

Bucky than pulled away, releasing Steve in the process. The clip in Steve's .22 was ejected and Bucky ejected the round in the barrel before catching the unfired bullet and slipping it back into the clip and setting the disarmed weapon on the nearby coffee table. Steve turned to flip on the light in the room showing that the face that matched the voice. Bucky's hair was still long but it was cleaner and his clothing was civilian rather than the tactical gear he had last seen him in. Steve also noted that there was a backpack on the floor next to the couch.

"How much do you remember?" Steve asked cautiously. He took a step forward, and Bucky used it to his advantage.

Steve felt himself being seized once more and thrown onto the couch. There wasn't enough force behind the act to hurt him but enough for Bucky to maintain the upper hand. In less than a second, Steve's hands were securely pinned by Bucky's metal one and Bucky straddled his waist. Bucky then press close and kissed Steve, at first tentatively and then with more force when Steve responded willingly.

"More than enough to know what we were and to want that back," Bucky whispered as he finally pulled away. "Enough to know that I can trust you. I need your help."

Bucky released Steve's hands which was a mistake because Steve took immediate control of the situation. Just as quickly as Bucky had had Steve pinned, now their positions were reversed. Steve was less willing to end the kiss so quickly and his was filled with the taint of desperation. Sam and Steve had been looking for Bucky for almost two years after he fell off the face of the earth when SHIELD collapsed. His greatest hope had been that the man he loved would remember and embrace those memories. When he finally pulled away, Bucky's eyes were slightly glazed and his lips were red from the kissing. Both men worked to regain their breath before Steve eased back and released Bucky's hands. Bucky sat up but when Steve moved to get out of his lap he stopped him with a metal arm wrapped firmly around his waist.

"As I was saying before. I need your help," Bucky said as he regained some semblance of thought and reached out to the bag on the floor. He unzipped it with his free hand and pulled out a file before handing it to Steve.

Steve took it and shifted his position on Bucky's lap to have more space for reading. As soon as he opened the file he froze at the picture on the front and looked back at Bucky. His expression spoke volumes but Bucky's only response was to shake his head and nod at the file as if to say 'read it'. So, Steve did as he was directed. A half hour later, Steve laid the file on the coffee table next to the unloaded gun. His expression was thoughtful before he finally spoke, "How much of this did you know before finding that file?" He asked softly.

"About three years ago they introduced me to her and had me start training her. She was five at the time. They didn't realize that prolonged periods without wipes or cryo meant that I would start regaining memories even if I wasn't out of the facility. Six months after they started to have me train her, I tried to break us both out. I failed. They wiped my memory and that was the last of the contact I had with her. Steve, I can't leave her in Hydra's hands," Bucky's expression was tortured at best as he pulled Steve closer to hold tightly.

"I'm not going to hold it against you for wanting to save your own kid. Even if you didn't ask for her, she's still yours. Of course, I'll help. Do you think they will expect you to come for her?" Steve asked as he curled into the chest of the smaller man.

"They know I will remember her and come looking. I guarantee it… Steve… I don't know how to ask this but they will be expecting us. That means they will be armed to the teeth and I don't think they will want to give up on recapturing me without a nasty fight," Bucky looked in Steve's eyes, willing him to understand.

"I'll call the others. They will be willing to help. I doubt there is a single Avenger who would willingly leave a child in the hands of Hydra," Steve reassured Bucky before continuing. "With luck, we will be able to leave first thing in the morning."

Bucky nodded and loosened his grip on Steve, letting the blonde slip out of his hold. He then watched as Steve went over to the counter where his cell phone lay and pick it up. Steve tapped at it for a few seconds before holding it to his ear with his shoulder and started to put away to groceries that were still on the counter.

Bucky listened to Steve's half of the conversation as the taller man put away the food and talked on the phone. After a few minutes, Steve hung up and smiled at Bucky, "Alright, everyone will be at the Tower in an hour. We can go into detail there."

Bucky nodded and picked up his bag, shouldering it, "Let's go then."

Steve sighed but gave a small smile and grabbed his shield from the corner in the living room and two helmets from off a shelf. Bucky followed closely to Steve as the left the apartment. He led him down to the below building garage and to a motorcycle waiting there. Steve then handed Bucky one of the helmets and the shield, "I'll need you to hold this while I drive." Steve said slipping his own helmet onto his head and clipping it in place.

Bucky glared at the helmet for a moment before copying Steve and donning the protective gear. He then hooked the shield onto his back and looked at Steve expectantly. Bucky's bag was underneath the shield and a bit uncomfortable but he bore with it. Steve revved the engine of the motorcycle before taking off out of the underground parking lot beneath Steve's apartment building. Fortunately for them, at 10 pm, the traffic was lighter than the daytime and Steve was able to easily weave in and out through the cars still on the roads.

Within 15 minutes, they arrived at Stark Tower. Steve guided his bike around to the rear of the building and pressed a button on the panel on the front of his bike that caused a ramp in the small parking lot lower into the ground. He steered down the ramp and pulled in next to a line of vintage and modern motorcycles that had all been modified in some way by Tony. Bucky slid off the bike before Steve did so and eyed the others in the line.

"Think I can get one of those?" He asked as Steve settled the helmets on the bike and directed Bucky towards an elevator.

Steve chuckled as he hooked the key for the bike on a board with a bunch of different model numbers above each hook, "The vehicles in this garage are communal among the Avengers. Tony says it's simpler that way. Not sure how but I doubt he or the others will mind you sharing too."

"That sounds like it is way more complicated than your friend is implying," Bucky remarked as Steve put his hand on the scanner next to the elevator door and his hand was scanned.

"Not really. Only Nat and I really like using the bikes and we each have our preferences. I like the older models and she likes the more streamline ones," Steve shrugged as the door opened and he walked in with Bucky behind him.

"Good Evening, Captain Rogers. Mr. Stark informed me that you would be bringing a guest. Will he please place his hand on the scanner and state his name so that I can have his voice on record," The disembodied female voice made Bucky jump and look around, confused.

"That's just FRIDAY, she's Tony's AI… butler thing. Just do as she asks. It will be make life easier, I promise," Steve smiled and pointed to the scanner inside the elevator.

Bucky eyed it the scanner suspiciously but decided that if he was going to trust Steve then he was going to have to trust Steve's friends too. He slid his human hand on the scanner before uncertainly speaking, "My name is James Buchannan Barnes. Bucky for short."

"Thank you and welcome Sargent Barnes. Mr. Stark and Thor are currently the only others in residence at the moment. He told me to inform you that the others will be here within the half hour," FRIDAY made Bucky uncomfortable but the elevator started to go up and the numbers on the counter above the door steadily increased.

Finally, after they hit the 70s the elevator stopped and the door opened. Steve got off, Bucky following directly behind and the door shut. They had entered into what was clearly a living space, a huge TV hanging on the wall and several comfortable looking couches forming a wide U shape. Two men sat at a table in another area with what looked like the inside of a bar.

"Ah, Capsicle. And Capsicle's BFF. You're an interesting fellow Sargent Barnes, you know that?" Tony stated, smirking as he focused at the StarkPad in his hand. "There were even theories about the two of you. This is all very exciting."

"Tony…" Steve sighed as if there was no avoiding this behavior.

"So, what's up? You only said that your long-lost bestie was back and had a mission we needed to deal with pronto," Tony set the StarkPad down and poured out a glass of scotch.

"It's better if we wait until the others get here. No point in going over it more than once," Steve commented as he sat in one of the chairs near the table. "Did you order food? I didn't get to eat before Bucky showed up."

"Take-out should be here in 10-15 if they want a good tip," Tony stated. Steve rolled his eyes glancing at Thor and knowing that the amounts he and Thor ate meant that it would be a large quantity of food.

"Mr. Barton and Miss Romanoff have just landed in the QuinJet hanger, Miss Hill has just parked in the private garage, Mr. Maximoff, Miss Maximoff and Vision have reported their ETA at 5 minutes, and Mr. Wilson and Col. Rhodes have their current ETA at 10 minutes," FRIDAY announced before falling silent again.

Thor made small talk until Clint, Natasha and Maria Hill came out of the elevator a few moments later. FRIDAY made announcements again when the rest landed in the QuinJet hanger. When she did so, Bucky tossed the file on the table in the middle. Tony ordered FRIDAY to have the take-out guy paid by the secretary on the ground floor before spreading out the file and having her put the pages on the big screen in order.

Everyone moved over to the TV screen and everyone, the others having just come out of the elevator when the file went up, other than Steve and Bucky, began reading the information. Natasha didn't even get a minute into it before swearing up a storm in Russian. Bucky looked at her appreciatively and Steve realized he had probably learned the language while under Hydra's control. Clint wasn't far behind Nat in the swearing and the others soon followed, though all continued reading to the end.

"I'm not sure if I should begin at the obvious sexual assault on Barnes or the fact that they are essentially trying to turn a little girl into a weapon," Natasha was the first finish reading and walked over to the table now laden with food that had arrived while she was reading.

"How about we start with the fact that Steve's favorite person has a kid," Clint responded as he finished and followed her.

"Ok, I can see why this would be viewed as a potential security risk and need to be dealt with immediately. So long as she is in Hydra hands, she is a tool to use against Barnes, who is inarguably among the best assassins ever. And Barnes is a weapon against Steve," Hill added her two cents as well.

"Do we know where she is? Or at least an idea?" Tony asked as he and the rest also sat at the table and started serving out food amongst themselves.

Bucky nodded his head and grabbed his bag again. He rifled through it for a moment before pulling out another file, "There are several possibilities for locations but this base is the most likely. I've never been in it myself, so I'm not familiar with the lay out but it has all the requirements for security and the facilities to bring me back under their control. On that note, I can't go in with you because they have this series of words, triggers, that they can use to bring me back under their control, at least temporarily. That's why my escape attempt with Rebecca failed."

"Rebecca?" Clint questioned, the name hadn't been in the file, only a test subject number and code name 'Ice Princess'.

"It's the name I gave her. She looks like my younger sister, Rebecca, so I thought it would be fitting," Bucky shrugged and looked away. Steve slipped his hand on top of Bucky's getting more than a few raised eyebrows.

"It's a good name, Buck," Steve said quietly.

"I can fix that. Or at least I think I can. I could probably reach into your mind and remove the programming, but only if you like," Wanda offered. "You and I would likely need a bit of sleep after though, but we should all get rest before going into a Hydra base anyways so it probably wouldn't even cost us a lot of time."

"And how would you do that exactly?" Bucky looked at her with disbelief.

"With this," Wanda stated, making her hand glow red with her power.

"Ah…Um…" Bucky was extremely uncomfortable.

"Are you sure you can do it? Not that I don't trust you, but we don't want to accidently trip the triggers or make them worse," Steve's voice was calm and that helped focus Bucky, much to Natasha and Clint's amusement.

"Pretty sure. I know how Hydra does most of their brain washing so unless they did something completely different with him it should be no problem. Strucker had me do it a few times so that he could get information that wouldn't have been available under the brainwashing," Wanda stated firmly as well.

"Buck, its up to you but if Wanda says she can do it, she probably can," Steve was gentle, not pushing. Bucky looked at Steve with uncertainty and then the file the was on the TV screen with the picture of a little girl with brown wavy hair.

"I'll do it. I don't want to have to worry about this in the future. It is too much of a liability," Bucky nodded hesitantly.


	2. Chapter 2

**This is a fan made story. I don't own the rights to Captain America, any of its characters or any characters within the MCU… Much to my disappointment. This will have some violent content and possible triggers. Steve/Bucky Established Relationship. Constructive criticism is welcome but if you don't like it simply because you don't like the line of thinking, please don't attack me for it.**

Chapter 2: Morning Minds

After they had eaten and while going over the game plan for the first base they would check, Wanda, Steve and Bucky went to the floor that was assigned to Steve. Bucky was laid down in the bed before Wanda hovered over him and placed her hands on his temples. Her hands glowed red and Bucky found himself sucked into his own mind. Wanda seemed to be there too. As memories flashed by going back further and further into Bucky's memories, he found his knowledge of what had been happening as the Winter Soldier was being pieced together.

Wanda was putting his mind back into order from the chaos it had become due to Hydra. When they stopped at the memory of Steve failing to rescue him on the train, Wanda started to move his memory progression forward again.

" _What are you doing?_ " Bucky asked mentally.

" _I am going through your memories to find the point where they implanted the first suggestions and removing the influence over you,"_ Wanda responded calmly as Bucky found himself in the chair they used to erase his memory without the metal arm. " _This is where it began. You must not fight this._ "

Bucky didn't understand what she was referring to until he felt a shock run through his mental body when the memory began running through a series of brain washing techniques used on him. He felt like his mind was being shredded for a few moments, while trying to obey Wanda and not fight what she was doing. After what seemed like an eternity he shot up from the bed he had been laying on before the pain in his head became too much and he blacked out.

"What happened? Is he ok?" Steve's voice was borderline panicked as he appraised Bucky whose breathing had evened out by this point.

"They had to reinforce a lot of the brain washing and mind control. He was very apt at breaking free from it. I need to sleep now," Wanda's voice waivered before she collapsed, Steve barely catching her in time.

He sighed, before collecting her properly in his arms and bringing her to one of the spare bedrooms on his floor and tucking her in, grateful that she was already wearing comfortable clothing. Once she was settled, he went back to his own room and carefully stripped Bucky down to his boxers, his body very heavy. He then slipped a pair of pj bottoms on him and changed for himself. Steve felt a sense of relief he hadn't felt for many decades as he climbed into his bed and was able to wrap his arms around the love of his life. A man he had loved for as long as he remembered.

Sleep came quickly, with more ease than since before Bucky had fallen from the train. In the morning, he woke to his spine being traced by feather light fingers. He smiled as he woke and looked directly into chocolate brown eyes. The expression on his counterpart's face was best described as bliss. Bucky opened his mouth to speak before closing it and opting to kiss Steve instead. In seconds, Steve was pinned beneath his lover and being kissed senseless and was completely blissed out.

"You… Know… I… Could… Get… Used… To… This…" Steve said breathlessly between kisses.

Bucky pulled away slightly to look at him intently, "If you are capable of speaking still, I am clearly not doing a good enough job." With that, he kissed Steve so passionately that it took them several minutes to realize that FRIDAY was attempting to gain their attention.

"…Excuse me, Gentlemen, but this really important. Mr. Stark did ask for you ten minutes ago," FRIDAY's speech seemed to make them realize how little attention they had been paying to their surroundings.

Bucky pulled away when Steve gently pushed him back. Steve then sat up, his right hand taking Bucky's metal left one to indicate not to go far, "Sorry, FRIDAY, what was that."

"Oh, good, you are actually listening. Mr. Stark asked me to inform everyone that it is time to eat before gearing up for your mission. Miss Romanoff requested that I emphasize the importance of a healthy meal before missions so that you are in peak condition for any potential combat."

"When did Nat request that?" Steve asked as he slipped of the bed, but not before giving Bucky a searing kiss.

"Approximately four minutes ago when the rest of Avengers assembled in the common dining room and you had failed to even respond yet," FRIDAY's response was even.

Steve chuckled, "Alright, tell them we will be up shortly. We were a bit distracted."

Bucky looked confused by this, "How do they not know what we were doing?"

"Natasha nearly ripped Tony's throat out when she found cameras in her bedroom, told him it was a violation of her privacy and he had better remove them. We all requested the same. FRIDAY can only take in high volume input and it has to be directed at the AI. Otherwise it doesn't get shared or recorded. Tony's not stupid enough to eavesdrop on us by this point, at least not in our bedrooms or bathrooms. The other parts of the floors have video and audio so we will be risking a show. Although we can engage privacy mode which will shut off those cameras too," Steve shrugged as he tossed Bucky a t-shirt and put one on himself.

Steve didn't bother changing out of the pj bottoms since he knew that they would just changing again after they had eaten. Once Bucky had the shirt on and followed him out and onto the elevator he took his lover's hand. He sighed when Bucky tried to pull his hand away, "Buck, it's ok. It's legal to be gay now. Hell, it's legal for gays to marry too. I love you and I am not hiding it from my friends and colleagues. Besides, Wanda's already seen inside your head, you think she doesn't know?" Steve firmly threaded his left hand with Bucky's flesh hand, which wasn't stronger than his own.

Bucky looked surprised at the firm expression on Steve's face because Steve never took the lead in their relationship before. That had always fallen to Bucky. He also knew based on the stubborn expression that he wouldn't win this battle and accepted that if Steve said it was safe, then maybe it was.

"…So, I was thinking that we need to do this quickly. They have a secondary base less than an hour away which means that if we don't get in and out by then, they could get reinforcements. It is probably why Bucky thinks this is to top option. It would be next too impossible to get his daughter in an hour and get back out solo. Hydra would be able to have just enough people to man the place and slow him and if he was stupid, make him think he could get out on his own," Natasha was reviewing the schematics of the base with Pietro and Wanda while Clint and, surprisingly, Thor cooked. Tony was apparently using a machine to make fresh orange juice, much to Steve's amusement.

"Oh, look whose finally up. What, were you having a morning quickie?" Tony asked as he noticed them coming out of the elevator and eyed their hands with a Cheshire cat grin. "Looks like my old man was telling the truth after all."

"Tony it doesn't take a genius to realize they were an item, even in WWII. Steve literally became a one-man army to get his precious James Buchanan Barnes back when he learned that he was a POW, despite it being a completely insane move. I remember retired Director Carter speaking at my graduation from the Academy and saying that she believed that was the greatest moment for the founders of SHIELD, air dropping him twenty miles behind enemy lines," Clint was serious which caused Steve to chuckle.

Bucky on the other hand looked like he was going to bang his head against something, "I told you that you sucked at hiding your feelings, Stevie. Does everyone know?"

"Please, before you showed back up, Steve behaved like he had a death wish. I was teasing him before your return, trying to get him to admit to being gay by pointing out all the women who were into him. By the way, I totally kissed him, sorry, but we were under cover," Natasha earned a glare from both Bucky and Steve that made her reconsider her wording. "It was a life or death matter."

"No, it wasn't, you grabbed me and kissed me when you and I could have turned away. We are hardly the only people who are blonde and red haired, nor were we the only ones in that mall," Steve growled out. Bucky eyed her before shrugging.

"Sometimes you have to go with the flow Stevie. If your life was in danger and a kiss protected it, I will barely tolerate that," Bucky's words made Sam look at him like he was crazy.

"You do realize that that happened when they were on the run from Hydra after you shot and failed to kill Nick Fury right? Just a little while before you ripped the steering wheel out of my car and tried to kill us all," Sam's expression was incredulous.

"Sam. He wasn't aware or in his right mind," Steve tried to defend Bucky.

"No, he wasn't, but that didn't stop you from trying again and again to get into his head and get him back. He nearly killed you in the process. Guess I know why now," Sam stood and walked over to a window, looking out at the city scape.

Bucky's expression nearly broke Steve's heart. He quickly turned Bucky to look him in the eye, "Buck, I _do not_ blame you for that. That was one hundred and ten percent Hydra. The point isn't how hard it was to get you to start remembering. The point is that once you had so much as a glimpse of your memory, you saved my life. Wanda, tell him what you told me last night."

Wanda shifted to stand next to Steve, "He is right. You have a very strong mind. They had to repeatedly replace the brainwashing and mind control because you would frequently break out. By the time you saw Steve again, it is truly a miracle that you remembered anything at all."

Bucky seemed to lose the slightest amount of tension from this information and glanced at the map of the compound. Tony set a glass of orange juice at Bucky's place setting at this point, breaking the remaining tension and Natasha took advantage, "That also isn't the most important thing to focus on right now. That's the past. You have a little girl out there that needs you to rescue her. That is the important part. Eat, we are going to need all the energy we can if we're facing Hydra."

The mention of Rebecca brought Sam back to the table, though he didn't look at either Steve or Bucky. Bucky nodded his agreement without speaking, his hand once more firmly in Steve's, who sat next to him. Natasha began outlining the plan, "So, we will take teams of three to search through the compound. My thoughts were Steve, Sam, and Wanda as team one, Clint, Tony, and Bucky, as team two, and Me, Vision, and Thor as team three. Rhodes, Pietro and Hill will be our sentries and back up if we need it."

"Why can't I be with Wanda?" Pietro asked with Vision seconding that.

"Yeah, no offense, but I would rather have Steve at my back," Bucky added.

"Because this isn't a school project. We don't want anyone getting distracted by cute asses or being over protective of loved ones. Bucky, you came to us to get your little girl out, we can't take risks with kids involved. Is there any way or something we can say that will gain Rebecca's instant trust?" Clint asked as he started bringing plates of food to the table with Thor and Tony's help.

The reminder of his daughter being endangered by distractions put Bucky straight into a serious mode, "Steve and I will get instant trust. Steve only needs to show up and she would recognize his uniform, I described it so much. She would obviously recognize me and she is smart enough to be able to tell that me infiltrating a place means that I'm not under Hydra control. Calling her Rebecca and saying you're Steve's friends are your best bet of winning her over. I told her enough about him that she knows we were lovers and I doubt that is common knowledge."

"It isn't, it's just common SHIELD knowledge. So, we're Captain America's friends and her name is Rebecca. Everyone got that?" Clint confirmed to Bucky's nod. Steve got a goofy look on his face at the knowledge that Bucky had talked to his daughter about him.

"No getting mushy on us Capsicle, Mrs. Capsicle, you too. Save that for when we get back," Tony smirked at Bucky's expression at Mrs. Capsicle. "I already have my legal team on stand by for the process of legal custody and all that. We wouldn't want Hydra being able to pull some legal bull shit out of their hats. We get her, we do DNA testing to confirm she's Barnes's kid, my legal team files for full custody for him," Tony looked determined on this, much to Steve's surprise.

"Ok, I'm finished eating. What about everyone else?" Natasha looked around and nodded approval that they had all shoveled the food in between conversation. "Good. Get dressed, we meet in the hanger bay in ten."

Everyone nodded their agreements. The dishes were piled in the sink to be dealt with the automated system that Tony had for cleaning. They then filed into the elevator and were dropped off on various floors. Steve got his uniform while Bucky redressed in the black cargo pants he had been wearing the night before and stole one of Steve's black t-shirts. He dressed with a military speed that made Steve smile. Once they geared up and waited for the elevator, Steve stole a quick kiss.

"Just remember, this is easy. We've faced way worse," Steve stated, taking Bucky's hand as the elevator door opened with Natasha and Sam inside.

"Good to know we didn't have to drag you out of your room Steve. Though, I suppose you see this as a little more important when your head is clear," Natasha smirked at the two of them. Steve instantly wondered if Natasha had hidden a mic or camera in his bedroom. He made a mental note to check for that later.

"Forgive me for indulging in showing my significant other that he matters before an important mission. I did just learn that he has a kid that he didn't get a choice in. A little reassurance of affection never hurt anyone," Steve pointed out curtly.

"I can't really argue with you there. I kind of suck at that though so I won't fail to annoy you about it," Natasha responded. Sam was still not speaking to Steve which made him a little uncomfortable and uncertain as to why.

When the elevator reached the hanger they had also collected Wanda and Pietro. Vision was the only one already in the hanger since he neither had a need to change, or eat, or use such mundane things like elevators or doors. Privacy was one of the main reasons Steve had opted for an apartment outside of the Tower. The Android had difficulty grasping the concept of knocking.

A few moments later, the elevator returned with the rest of the Avengers. They split onto two QuinJets. Natasha, Steve, Bucky, Wanda and Pietro on one and everyone else on the other. Bucky and Steve buckled into the bucket seats in the back while Wanda took the co-pilot seat to Natasha piloting. Natasha had taken the young witch under her wing and was teaching her the basics of things needed.

Pietro took the remaining empty seats and went to sleep. Steve chuckled and shook his head at the younger man before taking Bucky's hand, "It is going to be a few hours once we get to cruising altitude. If you are still tired from Wanda scrambling your head, feel free to take a nap."

"I have a better idea. I could tell you about Rebecca, or at least what she was like last time I saw her," Bucky countered as he noticed the door to the cockpit was closed and if they talked quietly, Pietro wasn't likely to be woken.

"That would be nice," Steve nodded, encouraging Bucky to do just that.


	3. Chapter 3

**This is a fan made story. I don't own the rights to Captain America, any of its characters or any characters within the MCU… Much to my disappointment. This will have some violent content and possible triggers. Steve/Bucky Established Relationship. Constructive criticism is welcome but if you don't like it simply because you don't like the line of thinking, please don't attack me for it.**

Chapter 3: Mission: Rescue Rebecca… and then some

Four hours into the flight, Wanda opened the cockpit to find her brother dead asleep and Steve and Bucky making out, having long run out of things to talk about in terms of the little girl because their plan was simply to make a standard family unit with her.

"Ahem… Nat says we are a few minutes from landing," Wanda stated before going over to her brother and poking him awake to say the same.

Steve and Bucky had jumped apart when Wanda had cleared her voice and Steve got a quick drink of water before passing the water to Bucky. After that, both he and Bucky slipped their comms into their ears and confirmed the channel for use. As Natasha landed the QuinJet, Bucky yanked Steve into a kiss and spoke softly, "Just remember. No dying, Punk."

"Right back at you, Jerk," Steve responded by kissing Bucky quickly as the back hatch opened.

" _Oh God, they're going to be one of those sappy couples. The tabloids are going to have a field day with that,_ " Tony's voice was only audible through the comms and Steve blushed lightly at the fact that they had been overheard by everyone. Bucky on the other hand shockingly seemed to have already accepted that this was viewed as acceptable.

"Listen Stark, I spent the majority of my relationship having to conceal that I had the best man in the world to myself. Actually, I didn't even get to have him to myself because I had to put up with the fact that no one knew and so a bunch of idiot dames flirted with what's mine. Now, I learn that I don't have to hide it. I will shout it from the top of that fancy tower of yours if it means people keep their hands off," Bucky gave Natasha and Sam both knowing looks that confused Steve a little.

Tony's and Clint's laughter rang through the comms and it was Clint who responded as they moved carefully through the woods towards the base, Tony and Rhodes flying overhead, "You tell them, Sargent Barnes. I'm sure Tony will arrange a press conference so you can claim him before the world if you want."

Steve rolled his eyes as they split into their individual groups. Wanda and Sam falling in beside Steve at the edge of the wooded area to gaze at the shockingly inactive outside of the compound. Steve looked around, scanning the area carefully, "Tony, is there any way that they don't know we're here?"

" _Nope. Hydra has all the tech available from me before the fall of SHIELD. They should have seen us coming from a mile away. You think this place is empty?"_ Tony responded landing with his group.

"That is highly unlikely. I assessed the viability of this base holding Miss Barnes and the satellite imagery from just before we left was a high level of activity in the area. The lack of guards would indicate not abandonment but rather the possibility of an anticipation and planned trap. They are likely to also know that Sargent Barnes has assistance and will no doubt be seeking immediate backup," Vision countered.

"Alright. That means the clock is ticking. Nat said their reinforcements are an hour away. We need to get what we came for or clear the base before turning the intel over to Fury. We clear this place in 45 minutes. We know how big it is, it's possible with three teams. Everyone, move out," Steve ordered before beckoning Wanda and Sam to follow and running straight at the building.

As could be expected, as soon as they were visible, the doors to the compounded opened and men in combat gear poured out. Everyone else followed suit, fighting their way through the first wave and into the building. The hallways were just wide enough for a couple of people to fight but they opted to have Wanda and Tony bowl the Hydra agents over instead and at the split of the hallway into three different directions they each took the teams in a direction.

Steve, Wanda and Sam made quick work of anyone they encountered, opening doors as they went before coming to the stairs leading down, "We have the East wing main floor clear, we're heading down to the first sublevel." Steve reported to the other teams.

" _Got that, we're almost done with the south wing as well,"_ Tony responded.

" _We're also almost finished with the west wing too. There aren't a lot of guys here. I am starting to get suspicious,"_ Natasha reported in as well.

Just after Sam, Steve and Wanda finished going down the stairs, a steel door dropped, sealing their exit off. Steve swore up a storm, "Damn it, can anyone read me?"

" _Yeah, what happened,"_ several voices commed in at once.

"They had a trap door slide down once we got to the bottom of our stairs, keep an eye out for that. Wanda, can you deal with that?" Steve looked to the witch who smirked in response.

"Happily," A burst of power from her caused the door to crumple and a second burst made it buckle and collapse in on itself. "In update, the door isn't very strong. Stark or Thor can easily destroy it like I did."

" _Good to know. South Wing, main floor is clear. We are headed down,_ " Tony informed them.

" _West Wing, main floor is also clear. We are also headed down and keeping an eye out for dumb, cartoon traps,"_ Natasha added her two cents.

"Good. Let's move on," Steve led them through the slightly narrower hallways of the first sublevel. Once again, they quickly subdued a few guards, none of them were even particularly strong.

" _You know; I am actually kind of insulted by the skill level of those they are sending at us. West Wing, sublevel one clear, we're headed to level two,"_ Natasha's voice actually spoke of boredom.

"Are you sharing your victims or just taking them out yourself," Sam asked, his tone joking.

"East Wing, Sub level one cleared, and yes, they _are_ rather boring. Don't expect it to stay that way," Steve stated as they went down the next set of stairs near where the first had been.

" _Oh, I let Thor play with them. Much simpler. There was another door at the entrance to sub level two, just a head's up. Thor didn't even have to work at it. It's kind of pointless,"_ Natasha clearly didn't care about the dead they would be leaving behind because Thor had only one fighting style, see bad guy, kill bad guy.

" _Oh, so we're going for the trail of corpses mode. South wing, sub level one clear. Not that Bucky is being nice to those he's seen. I'm just letting him get all his feelings out. It isn't good to hold all those emotions in,"_ Tony's words made Sam chuckle as Wanda did the same for the second door that had dropped down.

Immediately, they had a significant increase in those they had to fight. Steve and Wanda played the vanguard, Steve knocking them out, Wanda hitting them with her magic causing them to crumple to the ground. Steve couldn't help but wonder if she was leaving a trail of corpses too, in vengeance of the experimentation Hydra had done on her and her brother.

Steve was checking the doors when they cleared out guards and the forth door down revealed a little girl curled up in a corner. Wanda and Sam followed him quickly into the room but Steve waved them back to keep checking the other rooms, "Hey, Bucky, you said Rebecca should be about eight, right?"

Before him was a three-year-old blonde girl with vibrant blue eyes when she looked at him. Bucky responded quickly, " _Yeah, you saw the picture. Why, you find her?"_

"Not exactly. I got a blonde, three-year-old girl," Steve responded before crouching and carefully approaching her. A quick glance at the watch for the time remaining told him they had only been in the building for 20 minutes.

" _I got eyes on the prize, Hi, Rebecca, right? My name is Natasha; I am Captain America's friend. He and your dad sent us to come get you,"_ Natasha's voice rang through the comms.

" _Romanoff, can I talk to her?"_ Bucky immediate asked.

" _Sure, I brought an extra comm with me just in case. Just give me a second,"_ Natasha responded while Steve coxed the three-year-old out of her curled up position and picked her up.

" _Daddy?"_ A young female voice rang through and Steve felt his gut clench. She even sounded like Bucky's younger sister had.

" _Hey, Rebecca. Remember how I promised I would remember? Well, I did, now we are getting you out of here. Go with the nice lady and I promise you will see me very, very soon,"_ Bucky's voice was emotion laden and that made Steve's chest tighten, as well as his hold on the little girl in his arms.

" _Daddy, we can't leave without the others. There're four of them!"_ Rebecca responded.

"I have a little blonde girl Rebecca. This is Steve, your daddy's friend by the way. Is she one of the others you are talking about?" Steve asked carefully as he left the room. Wanda was standing outside another room staring uncertainly.

"I have another little girl, guys. This one is a red-haired girl around three as well," Wanda finally said, causing Steve to rush over. This one was a brilliant red-head about the same age as the one in Steve's arms.

Steve had to fight the urge to swear while he gestured for Sam to collect the little girl. Wanda would have to defend them on their way out.

" _Yes, that is two of them, the others are babies. Daddy, you have to find them!"_ Rebecca's voice rang out over the comms.

" _The rest of this level is clear and there doesn't seem to be any further levels on the Western Wing,"_ Thor answered swiftly.

"Same here, we have just the two," Steve responded when Wanda shook her head to indicate no one was left on this level. "We don't have a lower level…"

" _Found them, two babies. Clint, Bucky you get them I can't pick up babies in my armor. I will guard the way out. We also have a very terrified lady saying she is their caretaker,"_ Tony finally announced cutting off what Steve was saying.

" _Rebecca, sweetie, is there anyone else that we need to rescue?"_ Bucky asked, a faint whimpering noise in the background was heard.

" _No! That's it, Daddy"_ Rebecca responded promptly.

" _Ok, we are taking the caretaker lady too, just to be on the safe side. Everyone go up and out quickly,"_ Clint's comm also had a little bit of whimpering in the background.

Steve and Sam let Wanda lead on the way out, each holding the little girl that was clinging tightly to them with care. For the most part, they only had to contend with a few of the Hydra men who had regained consciousness while they were below. It took less than five minutes for them to reach the main entrance to the building.

Tony's and Natasha's teams were right behind them. Rhodes, Pietro and Hill fell in around them to provide extra protection on the way back to the QuinJets. As they all came out at a run, they only took a few minutes to get back to their transport and take off. Everyone split off to their original QuinJets and as a result, the babies were on the other one with the caretaker and Bucky found his arms full of an eight-year-old girl while Steve still had a Blonde three-year-old clinging to him for dear life.

Pietro looked at him with the little girl and smirked, "You look like you found your own long lost daughter. She even has matching eyes to you."

Steve froze at the comment. In fact, the chatter over the comms all stopped as well. Finally, a single voice spoke, " _I hacked the base computers on the main floor while we were clearing it. It was what initially slowed us. If she's Cap's daughter, it should be in the data since I just did a mass download. Same with the other kids too. Their info should all be on the drive I stole."_ Tony stated in a strangely reassuring voice.

"Good job in thinking ahead," Steve responded instantly.

" _I was more thinking we would need to know if they did anything wonky to Rebecca. Medical history and all that. Didn't think it would be more than just her to be honest. At worst case, if she hadn't been there, I figured we could use the intel to see where she might be,"_ Tony's shrug was obvious in his voice. " _Though, looking at the three over here, we got a curly red-head that looks like she could possibly be Nat's and a blond and a brunet for the two babies. Almost makes me feel like they were breeding us or something."_

" _I_ _wouldn't put it past them. Let's not jump to conclusions just yet though. And Tony,"_ Natasha paused to ensure that the billionaire was listening.

" _Yeah,_ " Tony responded instantly.

" _You may want to contact that legal team you have on standby and make sure they are prepping for a five-kid custody situation, not a one kid thing,_ " Natasha's serious tone told everyone that while she was telling them not to jump to conclusions, she was already pretty certain about the outcome of any DNA testing for at least the red-headed girl.

" _FRIDAY, do as Nat suggests, will you. I want them ready as soon as we get those DNA results back_ ," Tony responded for all to hear.

" _Yes, Sir. They will be contacted immediately,"_ The AI interjected.

The reminder of the flight was quieter as only Rebecca, Natasha and Clint kept their comms on. Rebecca only did so to be kept up to date on the other children. The blonde in Steve's arms fell asleep a half hour in and was laid down next to him. Rebecca sat in front of her rather than anywhere else and watched intently, like a mother bird over a hatchling. Bucky leaned against Steve and when Rebecca ended up falling asleep as well he asked a question that surprised Steve.

"Any idea how they could have gotten your DNA?" His voice wasn't hurt or concerned, just confused.

Steve was silent for a few minutes before responding, "Just after I was pulled out of the ice, one of the SHIELD Doctors told me they would need a sample to make sure that the ice hadn't killed my ability to have kids. I said that it wasn't a concern of mine but he had insisted, saying it was standard procedure. I gave it just to make him leave me alone. My head wasn't really in the right place at that time so I didn't really think about it beyond that."

"So, high probability that she's yours?" Bucky asked, careful to not upset Steve.

"With what they say can be done these days? Yeah, probably. The time line fits. Looks like we're going to be a family of four," Steve's easy acceptance that he most likely had a child of his own made Bucky relax a little.

"We might need a bigger place than that apartment of yours. For three it would have been ok but four is going to need more space, even if we can stick them in the same room for a little while," Bucky remarked.

"I have a lot of back and hazard pay. More than enough for a house. We can bear with it until we find a place. I'm sure Tony will be very helpful too. He knows a lot on real estate stuff. Probably has a few houses to spare if we're pressed," Steve shrugged and leaned into Bucky.

A while later, the blonde woke, frightened and hungry. Steve gave her an energy bar, all they had currently on the QuinJet in terms of food, after Rebecca calmed her. Natasha and Clint had apparently pushed the QuinJets to their max or the trip felt shorted because it felt like no time before they were back at Stark Tower. As they got off the QuinJets, Dr. Helen Cho and her medical team were waiting. They were all brought directly to the medical labs. All the Avengers had DNA samples on file already, even Thor, so it was a matter of getting cheek swabs from all the children and running those.

After the DNA samples were taken and labeled, Dr. Cho's team immediately set about doing a standard physical on all the children while Tony, now free of his armor, plugged the drive full of information into one of the computers and had FRIDAY do a search on each of the children. Their medical records were pulled up and stored with the medical information for the Avengers for Cho to review. He then pulled up their basic profiles and put them on the main screen.

"Alright. This is the basics they have. Subject one, aka Ice Princess, aka Rebecca Barnes. Paternity, Sargent James Buchanan Barnes, aka the Winter Soldier. Maternity, Dr. Amelia Jenkins, PhD in Physics at Cal Tech. Date of Birth, May 4th, 2007. Subject two, aka Iron Princess, no real given or surname. Paternity… well, fuck… Paternity, Dr. Anthony Stark, PhDs in Physics and Electrical Engineering, bastards used Dr. I hate that title. Maternity… Natasha Romanoff, aka Natalia Romanov, aka the Black Widow. Well, Nat, we have a kid. Now, Pepper's never getting back together with me. Even if it isn't my fault. Surrogate, Yelena Belova. Date of Birth July 23rd, 2011. She's almost four then, she will be getting the biggest party ever.

"Subject three, aka American Princess, god these people like referring to little girls as princesses, no given or surname. Paternity, Captain Steven Grant Rogers, aka Captain America. Maternity, Dr. Amelia Jenkins, PhD in… we did this already, she's probably Hydra to give birth to two of them, we can give that to Fury. Date of birth July 4th, 2012. She gets a big party too. Shares her birthday with daddy and everything. Steve, you're so patriotic that the kid you didn't even know about was born on the 4th of July. Subject four and Subject five are together. American Winter twins… fucking bastards… that tech hasn't even been legalized yet. Paternity, Captain Steven Rogers and in a real twist, second paternity, Sargent James Buchanan Barnes. Egg donor for the DNA free egg shells, Dr. Jenkins, surrogate Dr. Jenkins. Yeah, she's definitely Hydra. Fury can have fun with that one. Date of births February 15th, 2015. So, they're almost four-months-old," Tony stepped away to let the others examine the information.

"You should probably give them proper names too. You are totally right about Pepper, Tony. Even if she didn't blame you for it being against your will, she will blame you for it being possible because you were such a man whore," Rhodey was completely unsympathetic.

"I know, please don't rub it in. At least I only have one. How did they get enough DNA from Cap that they managed multiples," Tony looked at Steve with a knowing smirk.

"Standard SHIELD procedure. When exposed to extreme conditions, men get samples tested to ensure viability for their own sake. The samples are supposed to be destroyed after being checked but a Hydra agent could have easily misdirected them," Clint responded immediately. "He did get pulled out of the ice after being frozen for some 60 plus odd years. That counts as about as extreme as it gets."

"How did they get Natasha's? I thought that she can't have kids because of the Red Room or something," Tony redirected immediately.

"First off, the only people I told that to are Clint, Coulson, Bruce and my doctor at SHIELD and none of them would have shared that information with you so I will be killing you later in your sleep for hacking my medical files. Secondly, since you hacked my files, you should know that six years ago I got shot in the gut. They had to remove one of my ovaries because it had been severed by the bullet. At least that was what I was told. Took three months to recover too. Again, the eggs should have been destroyed. I'm surprised they didn't go for multiples to be honest," Natasha's voice was monotone as she looked over to where the almost four-year-old was standing on a scale being weighed.

Dr. Cho came up to them at this point, the DNA profiles coming back quickly since they had been prepared for them and they had the latest and greatest in tech. She sighed, "The DNA results match what is in those profiles. Congratulations. You're parents." She handed the tablet containing the test results to Tony who looked through them before passing them to Natasha who did the same and passed them to Steve and Bucky.

"Well the twins are going to be a bit complicated but since we have the medical records from Hydra on file it shouldn't be too big a mess. I'll send this down to the legal team. We'll need names before they can file though," Tony stated as he attached the digital files to an internal email sever to go to his lawyers.


	4. Chapter 4

**This is a fan made story. I don't own the rights to Captain America, any of its characters or any characters within the MCU… Much to my disappointment. This will have some violent content and possible triggers. Steve/Bucky Established Relationship. Constructive criticism is welcome but if you don't like it simply because you don't like the line of thinking, please don't attack me for it.**

Chapter 4: Many Happy Returns

Dr. Bruce Banner dropped his duffle bag in the elevator of Stark Tower as it rose through the building. He had ordered Tony's new AI to bring him to where ever most of the team was which was the medical labs, much to his concern.

When the elevator doors opened, he was confused to hear Natasha yelling, "Tony, you don't just get to name our daughter. _She's OUR daughter_ , not just yours. I get a say too!"

As he actually entered the lab he was surprised to see Natasha balancing a little girl on her hip as if it were natural. Steve and a man Bruce recognized from old pictures as Bucky Barnes were holding a couple of babies and talking softly with a girl who looked to be eight or so years old. Clint in contrast was chasing as squealing little blonde girl around the room.

"Ah… hey guys," Bruce spoke awkwardly to those around him, causing Clint to freeze and the little girl to use him as a hiding place. Steve and Bucky towards him as well. Steve in shock, Bucky in confusion and concern.

"Sarah, come over here please," Bucky called to the little girl without pause. The girl obeying with shocking efficiency for a child of her age.

"Hey Bruce," Tony waved without even looking at him and continued his argument with Natasha.

"No, Natalia is a better name than Maria and besides, she's already taking your last name because of legal bullshit. Maria can be her middle name," Natasha continued with her argument without even acknowledging Bruce.

"Fine, but we have equal custody. _And_ I get to pick her tutors. None of this stupid public school nonsense. It'll just hold her back," Tony relaxed at the offered compromise.

"Done. However, she had to learn at least Russian, Chinese and Spanish. She will need those for the future," Natasha nodded.

"Obviously. Half the people my company works with speak one of those three as a primary language, I'm throwing Japanese in too, though. They are probably the closest to us tech wise. Better for her to know it," Tony and Natasha's argument was clearly over as they agreed on the arrangements.

"Um… Guys?" Bruce was beyond confused. The only thing he had to go on was the curly red hair of the little girl Natasha held and the conversation.

Natasha finally seemed to realized he was present and looked at him only to freeze at his appearance. He knew he definitely looked bedraggled. Director Coulson had found him in Australia with the Aboriginals working on better control of the Hulk. They had told him not to fight the inner beast but rather attempt harmony with it. One of Coulson's agents had contacted him and informed him that they would leave him be if he wanted or they would take him back to Stark Tower if that was his choice. He chose the Avengers but was now wondering if that was the best option.

A beard partly obscured his face and he knew he was a lot thinner too. Steve finally snapped out of his shock and explained in whispers to the eight-year-old and Bucky who he was. Bucky nodded his understanding and took the older of the two girls' hand while Steve did the same for the small blonde 'Sarah' and they approached Bruce.

"Hey, good to know you are alive. We were a little worried about you. Bruce, this is my boyfriend Bucky Barnes. He remembered who he was and came back on his own. Anyways, this is Bucky's daughter Rebecca Barnes, my daughter Sarah, and our sons whom we are still trying to name. If you can't tell, things are a little chaotic right now. When Bucky came back it was with a mission. Hydra had his daughter so we went to get her. Only there were five kids instead of one. The other one is Natasha and Tony's, though they both had no control over it. Hydra stole her eggs in a surgery to save her life and Tony's DNA could've come from any number of sources," Steve was kind enough to explain.

"Oh, I know, George for my dad and Joseph for your, since we have the whole family name thing going anyways. Now, should we go with Rogers or Barnes?" Bucky seemed to be seriously contemplating it.

"No clue. Maybe hyphen? Rogers-Barnes or Barnes-Rogers does that sound weird? Oh, I know George Roger Barnes and Joseph Roger Barnes? You know give them both Roger as a middle name instead?" Steve looked back at Bucky whose mind was clearly on naming their kids.

"I don't know, the same middle name? I guess it could work, if you don't mind them not having your last name," Bucky didn't seem entirely sold on it.

"Ok, how about George Steven Barnes and Joseph Roger Barnes. Last names aren't that important anyways. Plus, less people will focus on a Barnes than a Rogers they would immediately connect that with me where as you aren't as well known a name," Steve was being practical.

Bucky seemed to accept this and nodded, "Alright, I'll go tell Tony so that he can go deal with his lawyer people." With this, Bucky walked away, holding the newly dubbed Joseph, a blonde as much as Steve was.

Steve remained in front of Bruce, with George, "So where have you been?" Steve asked distractedly as the brunet baby began to fuss.

Immediately, Dr. Cho came over with a bottle that was filled with formula. Steve took it gratefully and popped the nipple into his son's mouth and the baby began to suckle. Bruce was amazed by the ease Steve seemed to have with the baby, "Australia. How long have you known you had kids?"

Steve glanced at his watch before responding, "Nine hours and seventeen minutes since we found them and suspected at least Sarah was mine. Three hours or so since it was confirmed that Sarah, George and Joseph were all mine. Joseph and George are also Bucky's too which is very confusing. You would have to talk to Dr. Cho or Tony about it. Some sort of experimental process that isn't legal yet. What where you doing in Australia?"

"Trying to find a new way to control the Hulk. How are you going to handle three kids?" Bruce was distracted by Sarah who had wandered off and tugging at Clint's pant legs.

Steve followed his line of sight before shrugging any worry off since Clint knew how to handle children, "Four actually. Bucky's daughter Rebecca will be with us too. Tony offered to house us here for now and hire a nanny for the kids. Bucky and I are going to be very hands on of course but we probably could use what help we can get. Four kids all at once is a bit much, even I can admit that." George seemed to finish his bottle so Steve shifted him to a shoulder and began patting his back as Dr. Cho had instructed him a few hours before.

"Well, to be honest, you seem like you can probably handle it better than most. I know guys who had nine months to prepare and only one baby to care for who were less calm than you," Bruce nodded to the baby that Steve was calmly burping.

"Yeah, actually, I am pretty sure that I am in some sort of shock where reality hasn't really set in yet. Right now, we're waiting for some people that work for Tony to collect everything we need from baby stores and set up a nursery in one of my spare bedrooms on my floor and basics for the girls. We are going to get the more intensive stuff for the girls tomorrow, I think. Bucky is the really calm one right now. He already knew about Rebecca so that made things easier. Sure, the rest is a surprise but he has experience handling his sister when she was a baby so it's simpler for him," Steve looked over with a loving gaze to where Bucky now stood talking to Natasha.

Both were speaking in rapid Russian and Rebecca had joined them and jumped right into the conversation. Bruce followed and felt his heart clench a little at the sight of Natasha holding a child he had been just told was definitively hers, not that he had needed to be told. The little girl was a miniaturized version of Natasha in every way.

"Capt. Rogers. I have been informed that the nursery and Miss Rogers's and Miss Barnes's rooms are ready," FRIDAY announced to the group.

Steve glanced at the baby who was now falling asleep on his shoulder and then at Clint who was holding a nodding off Sarah and sighed his relief, "Just in time. Clint, bring Sarah, we can put these two down for a nap."

Clint nodded and joined him with the little girl who now seemed drained. Bucky quickly followed, Joseph was already asleep on his shoulder too. Natasha joined in for the fun since Natalia was also looking tired and the bedroom on her floor wasn't ready yet.

"You know; I have never been so relieved for Tony's excess of money before. We can all get him to pay for the things these kids need immediately as well as the legal fees for the whole custody thing. I am just grateful that Hydra can't fight us for custody. They would have to admit to breaking at least half a dozen international laws to even make a legal suit, according to Tony. Hell, they didn't even give the kids names. Just code names. Really, _Iron Princess_? How misogynistic can you get?" Natasha commented as they entered the elevator to be taken to Steve, and now Bucky's, floor. "Hey FRIDAY, can you alert us if any of the kids wake up and we aren't in the room?"

"Certainly, Miss Romanoff. Mr. Stark has already informed me that is a priority protocol now. If Miss Stark wakes and you or Mr. Stark are not present you will be both informed. The same applies to the Rogers and Barnes children and their fathers," The AI responded immediately.

"Good, we don't need baby monitors then. I will probably get one anyways for safety reasons. FRIDAY, please also make a protocol to record all audio in the children's rooms regardless of volume. Also, if someone other than an Avenger or the eventual nannies hired are in any of the children's rooms please notify all Avengers immediately," Natasha nodded satisfied with her thoughts. The AI recognized and confirmed the orders with Tony before responding that those were also being added to primary protocols.

"Good thinking. No need to take any risks for the kids. I dread the idea of some villain thinking they can get to us through them," Steve agreed with her decision as he rubbed his son's back gently.

The elevator opened just then on Steve's floor and they all filed out. Steve and Bucky placed the twins in the best cribs that money could buy. The bed itself was a suspended mesh that if the boys turned their faces into they could still breath through and the closely spaced bars of cribs were wrapped in cushioning around the bars alone to minimize the chance of suffocation there. The room temperature settings were also already set for the optimal temperature for infants at a steady 65o F.

The babies had already been changed into much better clothing than they had been found in and were gently laid down in the cribs on their backs. Each shifted only a little before settling to sleep. Sarah was then the focus in the next room over. She was laid down on a toddler bed that had only just been set up in the room and Natalia, now asleep as well, was placed next to her. The adults all quietly exited the room while Rebecca went back to the nursery to watch over her baby brothers.

"She seems a little overly concerned for their safety," Bruce commented as they all sat in the living room on Steve's floor.

"Dr. Cho thinks it may be a form of mild PTSD. She feels responsible for them since she is the eldest 'subject' in the program that Hydra had running. Rebecca told us that she only had their 'caretaker' to help and the woman didn't seem to be very eager for the job. She is currently in one of the holding cells for Fury to pick up," Steve responded, cuddling into the arm Bucky had draped over his shoulder.

The two were clearly working on being comfortable with mild PDA, at least in front of friends. Clint had flopped on one of the chairs, clearly exhausted, "I should probably be heading back home. Laura is going to go nuts over the information that she is an aunty. Nat, you can expect a call from her about five minutes after I get home and she pumps me for information."

"I count myself fully warned, but then I can get a whole bunch of mothering advice from her so I'm not going to complain," Natasha stated, relaxing into her spot on the couch.

"You are handling this surprisingly well. Especially for someone who two months ago told me that she couldn't even have kids," Bruce finally gave a bit of input, having followed them all to Steve's floor.

"Just because I couldn't doesn't mean I didn't want it. I was resigned to the fact. I thought maybe one day, if it worked out between us, we could adopt or something. I'm going to take this in stride because I'm adaptable. I can also take full advantage of Tony on the matter since Natalia is his too. He needs his only child to be his heir. It is covenant for him, and a pleasant surprise for me," Natasha stated, her voice slightly cold toward Bruce.

Bruce looked at her in surprised shock over the idea that she had actually been thinking of their potential future rather than living in the present as he had thought she was. Finally, his response was awkward at best, "Right… well I should probably grab my stuff and go get settled in on my floor. Maybe clean up a little."

Bruce exited quickly, much to Steve's sorrow. He looked at Natasha with disapproval, "You know he is probably in as much shock as the rest of us right now, right? You didn't need to be cold."

"He left. What becomes of the future is on him now, I tried to give him all the incentive that I could. If he wants a relationship with me after leaving, he is going to have to work for it. I have a daughter. He needs to accept that. She is going to be a big priority for me. It's why the Red Room tied new Black Widow's tubes when they graduated. No kids mean no distractions. I have had Natalia for less than half a day and already had one major argument over her and that was just her name. Love is for children, she is my child," Natasha justified herself and left the matter closed.

Steve sighed but knew that it was pointless to continue further. Just then Tony came off the elevator. Clint had already left and Thor and the others who weren't 'new parents' had long since retreated to their respective rooms or to where they lived while not on missions. As such it was only Natasha, Steve and Bucky on Steve's floor.

Tony sat on the chair that Clint had vacated, "The lawyers have managed to get ahold of a family courts judge that owes us a favor and filed the case with her. We'll have our meeting, or trial if you will, the day after tomorrow and have been granted temporary custody of the kids. We should probably get clothing, toys and such for the kids tomorrow. Nat, the techs say Natalia's room is ready on your floor. I'm going to have them set a secondary room for her up on my floor as well and a bed in my lab too. I am also going to have them set up a nursery on the common floor with toddler beds and cribs for nap times so we aren't all trapped on our floors because they are taking naps or whatever."

Steve nodded his thanks as did Bucky, though he had less interest in socializing with the others. He may have once been a gregarious being but Hydra had killed his inclination for being overly interactive with others. He figured the desire might come back eventually but it wasn't going to be quickly or soon. He mainly wanted to focus on Steven and their children.

"On a related note. I put plenty of funds in you accounts so get what the kids need for however long. Steve, I would plan ahead, babies grow fast so have plenty of size options. I only had my people pick up clothing for their current size. Plus, little kids go through clothing like paper. They make constant messes according to Clint," Tony told Steve very seriously.

"Yeah, he told me and Bucky that too, while he was showing us how to change disposable diapers. Not complex but, very messy. Thanks for having people get the immediate stuff like baby food, clothing and beds," Steve offered a tired smile to his friend. It had been a long day. "We should probably try to persuade Rebecca to go to bed and then go to sleep ourselves. From what Clint warns, four-month-old babies _do not_ sleep through the night."

Natasha nodded her understanding and went to collect her sleeping toddler, silently grateful that the girl was likely going to be sleeping through the night. Tony informed them that he would be in his lab working on new security features to accommodate for the kids. Everyone nodded their approval of the idea.

In the nursery, Rebecca had fallen asleep leaning against one of the cribs. Bucky carefully picked her up and carried her to her room. Neither of the men wanted to wake her by changing her and figured that since she was in comfortable clothing anyways, it didn't matter too much. Once the girl was tucked in under a light blanket they quickly but silently checked on the other three children before collapsing into their own.

Bucky half sighed, half laughed, "We are so screwed. How are we going to handle four kids on our own?"

"We aren't. We have the others to help, and they will help. Besides, Natalia is of an age to play with Sarah so that takes away the need for entertainment for her. Rebecca, we should really just shorten that to Becca or Rikki or something, will have to start a formal education. Tony said he would hire tutors after he assesses where she is at and get her to where she needs to be at her age. The twins will really be the most work," Steve tried more to convince himself than Bucky but the brunet took it in stride and opted to strip him instead. Neither went past their boxers but they made out for a little while before curling up in a mess of tangled limbs and falling asleep.


	5. Chapter 5

**This is a fan made story. I don't own the rights to Captain America, any of its characters or any characters within the MCU… Much to my disappointment. This will have some violent content and possible triggers. Steve/Bucky Established Relationship. Constructive criticism is welcome but if you don't like it simply because you don't like the line of thinking, please don't attack me for it.**

Chapter 5: It Takes a Village for Breakfast

A few hours after Bucky and Steve had fallen asleep, FRIDAY announced that both babies were awake and crying. Bucky shot out of the bed in a defensive stance before becoming aware of his surroundings. Steve felt a pang of concern since Bucky was never this alert before WWII. He pushed the thought aside for concern for their sons instead.

Bucky went to change George and Joseph's diapers, as he had been taught earlier by Clint, while Steve went to the kitchen to prepare bottles for them. He obtained hot water from the filtered tap and mixed the formula into it in each bottle, carefully measuring out the amounts that Dr. Cho would be appropriate for night time feedings.

When, Steve entered the nursery, he found Bucky finishing with Joseph's diaper. George was back in his crib, though still fussing. Steve quickly set both bottles aside to pick up the boy and cradle him in the correct position before retrieving one of the bottles and slipping it into the baby's mouth. George immediately started to drink from it as Steve moved to one of the two rocking chairs next to the cribs.

Bucky joined him with Joseph and the second bottle, following his lead. It wasn't long before the bottles were both drained and babies were burped asleep. Once they were back in their cribs, Bucky and Steve put the bottles in the sink to deal with in the morning and went back to bed. They were woken three hours later and proceeded with the same method.

However, this time, just as they were leaving the nursery, a silent Rebecca stood at the door of their room with a silent, and slightly terrified looking, Sarah. Steve immediately crouched down before the trembling blonde, "Did you have a bad dream?" He asked gently.

Sarah merely nodded her head. Steve's instant response was to wrap the scared little girl in his arms. She instantly clung to him. He still wasn't certain as to why she had become instantly attached to him but hoped it wasn't because he was just the first nice person she had ever met. Bucky beckoned to Rebecca and they all went into Steve and Bucky's room, the girls both curled up in between the super soldiers. Sarah clung to Steve as he whispered gently a story about his mother until she and Rebecca both fell off to sleep.

When Steve woke next, it was definitely morning judging by the faint sunlight coming from the one window near his bed. What had woken him wasn't the light however, it was a slap of a small hand as Sarah had shifted in her sleep, now sprawled out and taking up a third of the California King by herself. He couldn't help smiling at the view before him, even if he was perilously close to being edged off his own bed. The blonde and brunet girls separated him from Bucky but on the other side of the bed his lover smiled back at him over the ridiculousness of nearly being pushed off their own bed by the much smaller forms.

Steve carefully shifted so that his feet touched the ground without creating too much movement on the bed. Bucky followed suit quickly. Once safely out of bed, Steve went to the nursery to check on the twins. Finding that they were both still sleeping soundly, he went to use the bathroom before going to the kitchen provided. He looked through the cabinets and refrigerator for a few moments before sighing.

Bucky wrapped his arms around Steve from behind and rested his chin on Steve's shoulder, "What's wrong, love?" The endearment made Steve's heart thump louder than ever.

"We don't really have any food here besides what we have for the babies. I forgot about that. All my food, and clothing and stuff like that is at my apartment. We're going to have to go to the shared floor to eat," Steve stated softly.

"Or we could raid the shared kitchen for what we need now and get the food from your apartment later so it doesn't get wasted. It isn't like you are going to be living there anymore right? I mean there is no way six people, no matter how small four of them are, can comfortably live in a place that small," Bucky responded simply enough.

Steve glanced at the clock. It read 6:32 am and he nodded his agreement, "Sounds like it could work. Thor and Tony tend to sleep late and Nat will probably be preoccupied with Natalia if she is awake already. You stay here, just in case any of the kids wake. I'll do the raid. Pull out the pans we will need though, and maybe throw the bottles from last night in the dishwasher too."

Steve pulled away and gave Bucky a quick peck on the lips before going to the elevator and pressing the button. It opened almost instantly and he stepped in, pressed the button to the shared floor and waited while the elevator rose. Once he reached his destination, he made a beeline for the kitchen area and pulled out a big bowl quickly. He then grabbed some of the fruit on the counter, a package of bacon, a carton of eggs and a small jug of milk and stacked it in the bowl so that he could easily carry it back. He then grabbed a full gallon of orange juice in one hand while wrapping his arm around the bowl of food he would need to prepare breakfast.

As he made his way back to the elevator, he found it opening to reveal a tired Natasha holding a very sleepy looking Natalia. She took one look at him and let him enter the elevator without exiting herself. She then pressed the button to his floor for him and smirked, "I didn't have any food either. You can cook for us too since it looks like you stole half the food anyways."

Steve cracked a smile and fought off a chuckle as the elevator doors opened to his floor. Bucky was bent over searching one of the lower cabinet for a skillet, his butt fully in the air in the process. Since he was only wearing boxers, Natasha whistled her appreciation of the view while Steve cleared his throat and set his bounty on the counter. Bucky had hit his head at Natasha's whistle and extracted it from the cabinet to glare at her.

Steve just chuckled before going to a completely different cabinet and pulling out the two needed skillets. Natasha shrugged at Bucky's glare, "Just appreciating the view. You are very nicely built. If Steve didn't already have a claim on you, I might have even had a go at it."

"No, you wouldn't have. Bruce is back. If he isn't hunting you down to try to talk things out yet it is probably because he isn't sure how you being a mom changes the dynamics of the situation yet," Steve stated with ease. "Buck, can you chop up the fruit, I was thinking just some scrambled eggs and bacon with a side of fruit salad. We don't know what they've been feeding the kids so simple is probably best for now."

"Actually, Dr. Cho caught me before I went to sleep. She said based on the data from the files Tony got, they essentially were fed nutrient rich gruel. Who knows what that tastes like," Natasha shrugged as she let her daughter snuggle into her shoulder while she sat on a nearby chair. "You know, I am surprisingly pleased with Tony's foresight to have gotten all the data from that compound's systems. It is probably going to save us a lot of annoyance on trying to figure out the important stuff."

"I know what the gruel tastes like, it tastes like crap on cardboard. They essentially took everything that necessary in terms of a balanced diet and threw it in a blender. I watched them make the food for me enough times. Damn am I glad that I don't have to eat that anymore. Nor will the girls," Bucky's expression made his opinion on the food he was given by Hydra clear. He was focusing on the fruit making the pieces small enough for a toddler to eat. "I probably wouldn't have eaten it without the mind control and the fact it was the only way to survive."

"Well, that's in the past. They're going to enjoy this food if I can help it. Also, it is probably best to avoid swearing, at least in front of the children. We don't want to set a bad example for them," Steve gently chastised as he starting laying the bacon on one of the skillets to cook before cracking open most of the carton of eggs and poured a small amount of milk into the large bowl he had taken from the main kitchen.

He put a bit of salt and pepper in the eggs as well as a few other herbs that Natasha really wasn't watching him closely enough to recognize. She sighed before nodding her agreement about the swearing, "That's probably a good idea. We don't want a bunch of snarky miniature Tonys with attitudes to contend with. On another, child related note, how are we going to work getting clothing for the kids? It is probably best to not bring the boys at least. I mean, baby clothing is easy to figure out sizing wise and five kids between three adults is probably going to be a bit much considering two are babies."

"Who do you recommend watching them?" Steve asked skeptically as he poured the first bit of egg into the second skillet and turned the bacon.

"Dr. Cho said she wanted to do a more thorough examination of the twins. She and her army of techs can handle them while we get the stuff for them and girls. They're all medical professionals," Natasha shrugged with ease.

Steve and Bucky both tensed however. Bucky actually turned and glared at her, "Why does she need to do a more thorough examination of the boys?" His voice held a level of hostility that surprised Natasha.

"The procedure used to create them is still in the animal testing phase, like they are still only doing it with mice kind of stage. She wants to make sure that there aren't any medical or health issues stemming from what Hydra scientist did to get the twins. To say it was highly unethical would be a major understatement. She's just being very careful and thorough as a doctor. She only wants a tiny sample of their blood so she can do the gene sequencing to check for anomalies and run through a non-invasive full body cat-scan," Natasha spoke soothingly as she adjusted Natalia. "She's just doing what a good doctor would do in very uncertain circumstances."

Steve relaxed as he removed the bacon from one skillet and the eggs from the other before refilling both skillets with more food, "That makes sense, I guess. It might even be a good idea for her to do that with the girls too. There is no telling what Hydra might have done to them on the genetic level if they are messing with extremely experimental processes for creating kids."

"I am sure that Dr. Cho will be happy to do the same for Sarah and Rebecca. I need to talk to Tony but I will probably be insisting on it as well for Natalia," Natasha commented as her daughter started to wiggle about. She released the small girl who immediately climbed off her lap and ran over to the door to Steve and Bucky's room where Rebecca and Sarah stood.

"What is that smell?" Rebecca asked hesitantly. Sarah nodded her agreement at her confusion.

"Breakfast. Go wash your hands and then sit down at the table," Bucky answered as he pulled out plates from a cabinet, having finally found them after several minutes looking for them. He also extracted some bowls from the same cabinet and started to fill them with the chopped up fruit.

Steve emptied the last of the food that was being cooked onto the plates he had going and turned off the stove. With one plate in each hand he brought the steaming piles of eggs and bacon to the table and set them in the center. Natasha was now helping Bucky carry all the bowls of fruit so he pulled out three regular glasses, a plastic cup and two sippy cups out of another cabinet. He filled each with orange juice, putting lids on the sippy cups.

Just as Steve finished, FRIDAY announced the boys were awake. Bucky and Natasha went to change and retrieve them while he filled another set of bottles with hot water and mixed the formula into it. When the three girls came out of the bathroom, some water splashed on their nightgowns, he directed Rebecca to put Natalia and Sarah into the booster seats that were on two of the chairs.

As Natasha and Bucky came out of the nursery, Steve took Joseph from Natasha and slipped the nipple of one of the bottles into his son's mouth. Bucky retrieved the second bottle and did the same with George. Natasha meanwhile moved to the table and started serving out the eggs and bacon onto each plate. The girls all got small servings while Steve and Bucky got a large amount and she herself got a normal person amount.

Steve and Bucky waited until the boys finished eating before putting them into what was called a 'play yard'. It had little dangling toys, so Steve supposed that it was accurate in a way. They then finally sat down to eat and both broke into laughter at the sight before them. Natasha was eating with the normal grace of an adult and each of the girls were clearly attempting to copy her with varying degrees of success.

Sarah had only taken a few bites with the child sized spoon before abandoning it altogether and fisting the food and putting it in her mouth. Natalia was making an effort with the child spoon but was clearly struggling to keep her eggs on it. Rebecca, having a fork since she was older had no issue with the eggs but seemed to believe the bacon was eaten the same way and since Natasha hadn't eaten any of her own yet, had no indication that it wasn't.

"Rebecca. You can eat the bacon with your hands. The fork is for the eggs and fruit," Steve said gently, holding a slice of bacon with his right hand before eating it quickly. The brunet understood immediately and with relief seized the bacon in her hand and took a bite and her eyes widened in delight to a comical degree.

Bucky had to fight the urge to laugh at his daughter while Steve nodded and began to eat in earnest. Natalia had also gotten the hint about the bacon but decided to abandon the spoon altogether in favor of hands like Sarah had. Natasha sighed at this, "I understand your daughter abandoning basic eating skills, she's your daughter and will likely need as much food as you do, but really, you had to corrupt my girl too?"

"You think the serum affected my genetics to that degree?" Steve asked after he swallowed his current mouth full. While he let Natasha answer, he kept eating.

"There's a good chance, I would say. I mean, men generate sperm as they go so if it affected you to a genetic level then it stands to reason that that trait would be passed to all of your children as well," Natasha was completely unfazed by the topic but both men blushed.

"I suppose that makes sense. Dr. Erskine did say it would affect my whole body," Steve sighed as he put more food before Sarah who had cleared her own food and started to reach for Natalia's. "Does that mean we should be feeding the boys more too?"

"You would have to ask Dr. Cho. I think it is more likely that they will need to be fed more often rather than a lot at once. Babies don't have big stomachs after all," Natasha commented, as she finished her food.

"Can I have more?" Rebecca asked softly.

Bucky smiled and put a small amount more on her plate, "I guess that goes for you too, huh? I know you are stronger than average so you probably have the metabolism too."

"I'm always hungry. They didn't give us a lot of food. They also weren't nice either. I missed you daddy," Rebecca's words made Bucky freeze before he smiled at her.

"I missed you too. Even if I couldn't remember for a while, I still missed you. I am glad you don't have to deal with that anymore," Bucky's words made the girl smile back as she ate what he had given her.

"When you finish that, get cleaned up and changed ok? We are going to get you guys some more clothing. Well, you guys and your daddy more clothing. He probably needs a haircut too. I'm going to clean Natalia up and get us both dressed to go," Natasha said, smiling at the others as she stood and collected Natalia from her booster seat.

"You don't have to get your hair cut if you don't want to," Steve stated to Bucky with a smile at his lover's offended expression. "You probably do need more clothing though. I can't imagine you managed to fit much into that bag of yours."

"No, I'll get a haircut. She's right. I do need it… and clothing… and a shave," Bucky said as he stood and collected his empty plate as well as Nat's and Natalia's. Steve, now finished with his food as well took his plate and the abandoned cups.


	6. Chapter 6

**This is a fan made story. I don't own the rights to Captain America, any of its characters or any characters within the MCU… Much to my disappointment. This will have some violent content and possible triggers. Steve/Bucky Established Relationship. Constructive criticism is welcome but if you don't like it simply because you don't like the line of thinking, please don't attack me for it.**

Chapter 6: Slow Going

The girls finished eating shortly after Steve and Bucky did. Steve immediately ordered Rebecca to wash her hands and face while eyeing both girls' hair. He decided that they would need haircuts as well. He pulled out his phone and texted Natasha to make appointments for them and Bucky as their first stop. By the time he finished putting the dishes in the dish washer, Nat had responded that it was done.

A few minutes later, Helen Cho came out of the elevator with Bruce, "Natasha said you would let us do a more intensive exam of the boys? Bruce will be helping if that makes you more comfortable."

Steve nodded and pointed to the play yard where the boys were both yanking at the dangling toys while sitting up, "Yeah, it does a little. No offense. Just know we are going to get stuff for the girls and Bucky while you are doing that. I hope you don't mind."

"No problem. I'm sure we can handle them. The examinations and testing will take a while anyways," Dr. Cho smiled as she and Bruce picked up a baby each. "Well, look at you. You're just all smiles aren't you."

Bruce shook his head at the Korean doctor talking to Joseph who was happily waving his arms about at the woman. George was much calmer as Bruce placed him against his shoulder and both exited via the elevator. Bucky came out of the bedroom in the same jeans he had been wearing when he had showed up in Steve's apartment and another of Steve's shirts. Rebecca came out of the girls' room with Sarah. The older of the two had dressed them both in blue jeans and Captain America T-shirts that Steve had no doubt were bought under Tony's specific instructions, mostly because all the shirts and night gear that had been in their room was Captain America themed, as was the room.

Bucky smirked at the girls and then turned to Steve, "Hey, got a permanent marker?"

"Probably, why?" Steve asked.

"Just go get it. I have an idea," Bucky's smirk grew.

"I don't even know how you know what a permanent marker is. Or a blender now that I think about it," Steve commented as he went to a drawer in the kitchen and riffled through it for a moment before pulling out a black marker and tossing it over to his lover.

"One of my handlers made me make my own food with the blender. As for the marker, it was used a lot around me, normally to black something out," Bucky responded distractedly as he crouched in front of his daughter and carefully wrote in block letters.

As he pulled away from Rebecca to repeat the process on Sarah, Steve approached to read what he wrote on the shirt, " _If lost please return to Steve Rogers_. Really, Buck? How many people are going to take this seriously if they did get lost."

"Well, since we are likely going to be in the store and you are a very recognizable face and name, hopefully a lot. Not that I think they will get lost, just a precaution. Besides, you must admit it's funny," Bucky's smirk was in full play as he backed up and handed the marker to Steve. "I kind of half want you to write it on me too, or maybe 'Property of Steve Rogers'. I could write, 'I am Steven Rogers' on you so that they can connect the dots if you like."

"I would rather keep it low profile if you don't mind," Steve stated, rolling his eyes at the ridiculousness of the situation. "They can keep the shirts though. Just in case."

Bucky sighed before got to put the marker on the counter as the elevator opened, "Steve, why aren't you dressed yet?" Natasha asked as she walked out, her daughter in an Iron Man t-shirt and jeans.

"Because I was cleaning up while waiting for the shower to be free. Give me five minutes and I will be out," Steve responded, heading to his room and its adjacent bathroom.

Natasha looked at the two girls who stood nearby and smirked, "Good idea. I'll do that with Natalia as well." She put her daughter down and snatched up the marker that was in plain sight. Crouching down she wrote 'If lost please return to Steve Rogers or Natasha Romanoff' on Natalia's shirt in block letters. It covered half the Iron Man mask emblazoned on the shirt.

When Steve came out a few minutes later, he noticed the change immediately, "Really? You too? Though, I am surprised that you have Natalia in an Iron Man shirt."

"Yes, well, _apparently,_ Tony thought it would be funny to have his people get her only Iron Man paraphilia. I suspect you have a similar issue since both of yours are wearing Captain America shirts," Natasha responded as Steve picked up Sarah and they all got into the elevator.

"Yeah. He probably thought he was being funny too," Steve sighed and pressed the button for the garage.

"Just so you know, Tony told me to tell you that there should be a couple of mini-vans for us to use in the garage. Complete with car seats and everything," Natasha stated, shifting Natalia on her hip.

"That is good to know. I was thinking we would need to take two cars," Steve shrugged. He knew that car seats were bought but not more appropriate vehicles as well. "Where're we going for the haircuts, by the way?"

"Some retired SHIELD agents set up a place near here. Don't worry, they are all clean and not Hydra. After everything went down, they decided a hair salon would be a nice change of pace. They're good too. All of them got training as parts of different covers and maintained the skill since it was useful," Natasha responded. "The place is called Agent Style. It's a stupid pun but they're popular. I called the owner and she said she and a few of her people would be there early so we can get in before they open."

Steve nodded his approval. When they reached the mini-vans, two front facing harness car seats were between them as well as two rear facing ones. The two front facing were obviously for Natalia and Sarah as they were too big for the rear facing. The three of them looked at each other uncertainly.

"FRIDAY, can you please ask Dr. Cho if any of her people know how to install a car seat into a car?" Natasha asked the AI that she knew was always listening.

"Of course, Miss Romanoff," FRIDAY responded. There was a moment's pause before the AI spoke again. "Dr. Cho said that someone will be down momentarily."

Natasha and Steve relaxed instantly. A couple of minutes later, one of the techs who looked like he was probably old enough to be a dad came out and jogged over to them, "Don't worry. It is a common issue. A lot of first time parents have no idea how to install them. Do you want all of them in or just the front facing?"

"Just the front facing in this van," Natasha responded. "But you could probably demonstrate how to install the other ones in the other van so we know how to do it in the future."

The man nodded his understanding before opening the side door, grabbing the first seat and told them exactly what he was doing as he secured the seat in place. He had Steve do the second one so that at least one of them knew how to do it. He then picked up Natalia and showed them how to properly secure her in the seat. Once he finished, the tech let Natasha put Sarah in the other seat while talking Steve and Bucky each through putting the rear facing car seat bases in and then how to attach and detach the actual seats for easier convenience.

Once all the car seats were installed and the children secured, Steve silently thanked god that Rebecca was old enough not to need one. Bucky sat in back row with Rebecca while Steve sat in the front and Natasha drove. A half hour of heavy traffic later, Natasha pulled into a parking space for the Manhattan Mall. It took Steve a few moments to figure out how to undo the straps for the car seats and then Natalia and Sarah were free.

"It is pretty empty here. Are any of the shops open?" Steve asked as it wasn't quite 9 am at this point. Much earlier than most malls were open.

"Agent Style is going to be opened a bit earlier than usual for us. Typically, they don't open until 10:30 but they're making an exception for people who saved the world multiple times," Natasha smirked as they made their way through to the doors of the mall where a mall cop stood.

The man nodded at her and opened the door for them. Steve sighed as the man locked the doors behind them, "Why do I get the feeling they aren't the only ones making exceptions?"

"Tony put in a call ahead to the shops we're visiting. It is simpler if we don't have to fight the crowds. As it is, we probably won't finish the haircuts until the mall actually opens. The owner of Agent Style is only having one person come in to do them so that we don't get bombarded with probing questions. Her name is Bobbi Morse," Natasha stated blandly.

"Right. This the place?" Steve nodded to the sign about an open shop saying Agent Style in a fancy cursive.

"You would be correct. Come on," Natasha nodded as she walked into the hair salon and they were immediately greeted by a blonde with her hair back in a ponytail.

"Natasha, how are you? Ida already told me who was going to be getting the haircuts. Who is first and what are you looking for? I have books of different options if you aren't sure yet," Bobbi Morse was to the point and gestured towards a stack of books and magazines to look through.

"Barnes, do you know what you want or do you want a chance to go through the fashion magazines?" Natasha smirked at the frozen man.

"Um… Can I just get what my hair was before… well when I was…? You know…" Bucky looked uncomfortable as he spoke.

Morse nodded and pulled her phone out before typing something in and showing him a picture of himself in uniform just after one of their missions, "You want this?" Bucky nodded immediately.

"Ok, while Bobbi deals with Barnes, Steve you want to go through the books with me to help Rebecca pick what she wants and find something for Natalia and Sarah?" Natasha sat in one of the chairs and picked out a book with children's styles.

"I guess," Steve responded distractedly as Bobbi led Bucky over to a chair in front of a mirror. He absently flipped through a book while listening to the agent turned hair stylist explain what clippers were and how they would speed up the process of cutting Bucky's hair.

"What about this?" Natasha asked the eight-year-old, showing her a bob haircut parted to the side. Her response was a head shake and the search continued.

By the time that Bucky was finished getting his hair cut and styled, Steve had picked out a simple middle part bob hair cut for Sarah since her curls already gave a certain level of style. Bucky traded spots with Steve as he took Sarah to be sat on a booster in the chair Bucky had been sitting in. A quick explanation later and Bobbi was wetting Sarah's hair. The little girl sat still until she saw the scissors and then she panicked.

It took Steve five minutes to calm the two-year-old and a suggestion from Natasha about having Sarah facing him in his lap while Bobbi cut and styled her hair. Steve decided to tell Sarah about her name sake to keep her distracted while Bobbi cut her hair and when she finished, washed and styled it since Sarah hadn't really had a bath since they had found the children.

Steve felt a pang of guilt on the thought but pushed it aside as he stood with his daughter and carried her to sit next to Bucky. Bucky was still going through the books with Rebecca while Natasha took Natalia to get her hair done. Finally, something caught Rebecca's interest though, "I like this one."

The picture she was pointing to was a pixie cut style that had both men raise an eyebrow. Steve hesitated before sighing and looking at Bucky, "It's just hair. If she doesn't like it in the end she can always just grow it back out."

"It's a little… I don't know… Masculine though, isn't it?" Bucky looked worried as he looked at the extremely short hairstyle.

"Not really. Plenty of women wear their hair that short these days. I see it all the time. Heck, by the time we are finished shopping, this will probably seem pretty tame to you," Steve shrugged. He had long since adapted to the present day but Bucky hadn't had a chance to really adjust yet.

"What's that supposed to mean?" Bucky asked confused and a little annoyed.

"Hold on," Steve stated while he flipped through one of the books before stopping on a page and showing Bucky a bunch of outlandish and colorful styles. "This isn't an uncommon sight in New York now, whether you are in Brooklyn or Manhattan."

"I… your joking, right?" Bucky looked at Steve like he was a little crazy.

"Nope. You'll see soon enough. I've had to even use some of those a few times for covers. They were the fun ones," Natasha had returned with Natalia, whose mass of curls had been tamed into pig tails after being shortened a little. "Just let her get what she wants. Like Steve said, it is far from permanent. Hair grows back."

Bucky looked at his daughter who hadn't moved a muscle while waiting for his response and then Steve and Natasha before sighing, "Ok, fine. But if you don't like it, don't complain to me."

Rebecca smiled and hugged him before going over to the chair to have her hair cut. Natasha followed and showed Bobbi what the eight-year-old wanted. By the time that Rebecca's hair was finished, Steve glared at his phone that showed they had spent an hour and half on the haircuts alone.

"I hope it doesn't all take this long. I don't want to leave Helen and Bruce with the boys all day," Steve sighed as they left the salon.

"It is more going to be picking out clothing and having them try it on. I think we can safely rely on the basic sizing for Natalia and Sarah but Rebecca is going to need to see what actually fits her and what doesn't," Natasha responded immediately.


	7. Chapter 7

**This is a fan made story. I don't own the rights to Captain America, any of its characters or any characters within the MCU… Much to my disappointment. This will have some violent content and possible triggers. Steve/Bucky Established Relationship. Constructive criticism is welcome but if you don't like it simply because you don't like the line of thinking, please don't attack me for it.**

Chapter 7: Fashion and Food

Steve was ready to scream by the end of the first store. He was horrified by the overly sexualized clothing they made for two and three-year old girls much less eight-year-old girls. The shorts were skimpy, the shirts flimsy and the amount of useless sparkle made him want to cringe. It suddenly made more sense to him why Tony had told the people he had sent out to just go with Avengers paraphilia.

"Ok, I think the cutesy dresses should be enough for formal occasions and then we are going to get them the rest of their clothing from the boys' section, what do you say?" Natasha's tone told Steve that she was equally frustrated.

"I have no problem with that. What about you Bucky?" Steve looked to his significant other. In all honesty, he wanted them to be sharing the responsibility for all the children so they would both have equal say.

"If this is the kind of clothing that they expect little girls to wear, I don't even care if they think ours are boys. Rebecca, you pick what you want from here but just so you know, you can wear the boys stuff if you want," Bucky's about face on his daughter looking masculine would have amused Steve more if he didn't realize it was because Bucky had already seen about a dozen kids, both male and female, wearing all sorts of things.

Rebecca had done just that and it led to an assortment of options. Natasha had started guiding the older girl in towards different types of styles that she could mix and match since Steve and Bucky were virtually hopeless in that department.

At around noon, little stomachs and big alike began to growl. A shared look between the adults had them all walking back to the car. The only available food source in the mall was Starbucks and they could all agree that caffeine and sugar in small children wouldn't be a wise decision, especially since said children had never had any and that meant there was no immunity to its effects.

Fortunately, Natasha knew of a small bistro just down the street where they could get real food. After storing their current purchases in the mini-van, they persuaded Sarah and Natalia into the strollers that had been stored in the back of the vans and headed over to the bistro. Rebecca was particularly subdued by this point. She looked around frequently as they moved along the street and Steve noticed Bucky doing the same.

"Guys, I don't think anyone will attack us in broad daylight in downtown Manhattan. They would have to be insane to do so," Steve pointed out as the entered to place.

"Bucky attacked Director Fury in broad daylight in downtown DC, Steve. I don't think he is going to agree or find that reassuring," Natasha responded before Bucky could.

"He also had a lot of help and the cover of SHIELD. Hydra doesn't have that. It also lacks the current resources necessary to go against the Avengers," Steve shot back as the hostess seated them and a waiter brought out two booster seats for Natalia and Sarah.

"You don't know that. Hydra had a lot more going for it resource wise than you realize. It is always best to be cautious. I'm still confused about why they didn't try to use the trigger words while we were trying to get out," Bucky added before Steve could argue further. He eyed a few people who were taking pictures and pointing to Steve and Natasha in obvious awe of who they were.

"We'll be cautious then, just try not to over react to people approaching us. The Avengers are well known and our faces are well publicized. They may just be fans," Steve commented as he opened a menu after glancing at the child menu and deciding on chicken fingers for Sarah.

Natasha had just started to read the list to Natalia only to realize her daughter had no idea what any of the options were. At this point she decided on grilled cheese for the three-year-old and opened her own menu. Bucky accepted Steve's argument and then focused on attempting to explain to Rebecca what each was like, a difficult task when she hadn't really had more than what constituted as gruel to most people. It took the girl only a few moments to tell him to pick for her and he sighed in resignation.

"You know, it really sucks that our kids have no idea what real food is like," Natasha stated after the waitress took their orders. "I mean really, already processed food is not really that healthy."

"Try to think of it from a different perspective. We now have a chance to ensure that they develop good eating habits. A lot of children have difficult with that problem. They actually have just been eating what we have been putting in front of them meaning they aren't picky," Steve pointed out.

"If we didn't eat what they gave us, they forced us to eat it using a funnel. You tend to stop fighting it if it only makes things worse," Rebecca inserted herself into the conversation to explain.

Steve stood, handed Sarah to Bucky and told them he would be back in a few minutes. His expression caused Bucky to nod instantly as he took the little girl. His lover immediately headed to the bathroom which was fortunately single person. Bucky shook his head and sighed, "Rebecca, it might not be a good idea to tell him how we were all treated while under Hydra's control. Steve may seem friendly but that is only because we're good people. Bad people who do bad things make him very, very angry. We can't upset him while in public or even really in front of Sarah and Natalia because we don't want to scare them. Okay?"

Rebecca nodded and then smiled at the waitress who had brought out drinks for them. The children had all been ordered lemonade rather than soda or another high sugar drink. Bucky ordered what he knew that Steve would have wanted. His eyes had bulged a little over the prices but Steve had already assured him that it was what was now referred to as inflation. He was sure that Steve would want steak though.

"So, Steve said that gays could be open or even marry if they wanted," Bucky spoke quietly and hesitantly to Natasha and she nodded. "How do you think that the world would react if Steve and I were to get married?"

Natasha smirked, "Well, there is a lot of variation of opinions on the subject of homosexuality to be honest. The gay community would crow over one of the most iconic people to come from the U.S. being gay himself, especially given that you two were an item before going into the ice. You marrying would be certainly exciting for them. On the opposing side, extreme religious groups would go insane screaming for your blood for the same reason. Personally, I don't think what anyone says or does should influence your choice on the matter. Marriage is about you, your partner and the family you create, not the world at large."

Bucky nodded, "You think you could take the kids after this? We're pretty much finished shopping anyways."

Natasha's smirk grew, "Sure."

"Sure what?" Steve asked as he joined them just before the waitress returned with their food.

"Bucky was just suggesting that I drop you to your apartment after this so that you could pack your things up. You did mention you have food there and that is a bit time sensitive," Natasha lied smoothly.

"Yeah, she was just agreeing to take the children back to the tower while we pack up," Bucky added once their food was in front of them.

Steve eyed the steak before rolling his eyes at Bucky. He then immediately went about cutting up Sarah's chicken fingers. Natasha did the same for Natalia's grilled cheese. Both smaller girls required Steve and Natasha to take a bite from their food to show that it was safe. Rebecca merely required Bucky to give her a nod to begin eating, though slightly confused still about utensils for her food.

Bucky dug into the food immediately and ate quickly, causing Steve to chuckle. The meal was amusing for most of the adults, despite the small messes made by the smaller girls. Natasha ate slowly to get to Bucky knowing his rush to eat and was amused that Steve also attempted to eat quickly as well. When they all finished, they headed back to the mall for the car.

Steve and Bucky were dropped off on the way back to the Tower and Natasha took the children back to the tower to continue with medical screening. Bucky had pulled Rebecca aside before their separation and explained that they were taking place to ensure that they would be healthy and not as experiments. Rebecca nodded reluctantly but went with Natasha.


	8. Chapter 8

**This is a fan made story. I don't own the rights to Captain America, any of its characters or any characters within the MCU… Much to my disappointment. This will have some violent content and possible triggers. Steve/Bucky Established Relationship. Constructive criticism is welcome but if you don't like it simply because you don't like the line of thinking, please don't attack me for it.**

Chapter 8: Love is Love

Steve unlocked the door to his apartment and smiled as he noted the empty cardboard boxes next to the door where Tony's people had left them. He collected the boxes and led Bucky immediately to his bedroom. However, the second they were in the room, Bucky pulled the boxes from Steve's hand and tossed them out of the way and pinned Steve next to the still open bedroom door. The kiss he gave Steve was intense and passionate.

It was several minutes before Bucky pulled back from kissing Steve. At that point, he had both his hands slipped under Bucky's shirt as he clung to him. With a smirk, Bucky spun them around and started walking Steve back to his bed where Steve fell backward when the back of his knees hit the edge of her bed. Bucky landed on top of Steve smirking widely. He took advantage of his position above Steve and intensified the kissing. Halfway through, Steve, running his hands up and under Bucky's shirt pulling it off. He then pulled away to inch up the bed until he was fully on the bed.

Bucky followed to remain hovering over Steve as he pulled his own shirt off. Bucky began to roam across his jaw, neck and chest before returning to Steve's lips. This time to kisses were less passionate but more sensual. When he finally pulled away, Steve wore a goofy grin which Bucky responded with a tender look.

"So, I have a serious thing that I need to talk to you about. You remember back when we were fighting Hydra during WWII? Remember that I promised there would never be anything that could keep us apart?" Bucky watched as Steve nodded, a confused look on his face. Bucky kissed the confusion away before he continued.

"I think it's about time to double down on that promise. Hydra kept us apart for over seventy years. I never want that to happen again. You are the most beautiful, wonderful and perfect person I have ever met. If it had been legal, I would have married you before going off to fight in the war, before you even got that serum, which, by the way, since it means you're still alive, I can't hate. I also think that it is my duty to legitimatize our kids and make an honest man out of you. What I am trying to say is, since you have pointed out that _it is legal_ now, will you marry me? Will you be my husband forever?" Steve's goofy grin had returned and was now accompanied by tears glinting in his eyes.

He nodded before choking out a laugh and yanking Bucky down to kiss him intensely. Bucky could be felt smiling through the kiss. Bucky pulled back and whispered, "Say it out loud? Please? I need to hear it out loud."

"Yes, damn you. Yes, I will marry you. Damn, I was going to give you a few weeks to get used to the idea of being the whole thing being legal before proposing. I love you. You jerk, you stole my chance to propose," Steve chuckled before Bucky's lips crashed down furiously intense. Steve slide his hands down and started to unbutton Bucky's pants as Bucky did the same one handed.

Steve pushed down Bucky's pants as quickly as possible and then flipped them over so that Bucky could use the bed to wiggle the rest of the way out of his pants. Bucky finished removing his pants while unbuttoning Steve's pants with both his hands now free. Bucky, now in the nude, flipped them back over and started sliding down as he kissed down Steve's body. He paused at Steve's nipples as he shoved his lover's pants further down until they were almost off.

Bucky then slid down further before pausing, "Do you have lotion?" His expression was a cross between worry and longing.

Steve smirked, "I have better. One second." He twisted beneath Bucky to reach into the top drawer of the bureau next to his bed. He pulled out a bottle of clear liquid.

"What is that?" Bucky was now the confused one.

"Lubricant. It is designed for this and much more effective than lotions," Steve smiled as he handed the bottle before bringing his legs up and spreading them to give Bucky access to his nether region.

Bucky groaned at the sight before him as his metal hand opened the bottle and spreading the lube onto his flesh hand. He then immediately grasped Steve's member with his metal hand and held it still as he engulfed Steve's member in his mouth as he began to gently probe Steve's hole and prep it. The immediate moans from Steve brought Bucky to move quicker in his preparations. An 'enough, now,' Steve caused Bucky to withdrawn his fingers and shifted back up, bringing Steve's legs up as well and covered his own member with more lube.

He aligned himself at this point and slowly entered Steve as he engaged Steve in a searing kiss. Once he had entered his lover, Bucky attempted a slow pace, knowing that after so prolonged a time between their separation, neither would last very long. Despite this, he knew the exact angle to use to bring his lover maximum pleasure and used it to the fullest. Steve had similar ideas and they both quickly fell back into the old rhythm they had before their separation. As he felt himself approaching his climax quickly, Bucky reached between them and began attempting to bring Steve to his completion first. It took only a few strokes before he succeeded and Steve's brought Bucky his own.

Bucky refrained from pulling out, knowing that due to Zola's experiments on himself in the prison camp and then after the train had had similar effects on him as the serum had on Steve. As he continued to stroke Steve and they exchanged caresses, he felt himself hardening once more within his lover.

Steve chuckled at his and flipped them over, seating himself firmly on Bucky, causing him to buck and groan from pleasure over the friction at the same time. Bucky laid back and sighed at the magnificent sight before him and knew that he couldn't have asked for more or better because there was nothing more or better than Steven Grant Rogers. Steve lent forward slightly to brace his hands on Bucky's chest before rising himself until only Bucky's tip was still in him before dropping down harshly.

The results of friction had both gasping and Bucky's hands quickly found their way to Steve's hips to help him find the rhythm once more as he thrusted up to meet Steve's downward movements. Having already reached a climax once, it took them both longer this time but as Bucky felt himself nearing it once again, he began stroking Steve towards his climax, this time they reached it together and the groans of each other's names seemed to only prolong the experience.

After this round, Steve pulled off of him and grabbed the bottle of lube so that he could prepare Bucky for the next. He sucked off his lover while stretching him as Bucky had for him. It took Bucky less time to be prepared since his muscles were already relaxed due to the previous releases. Steve was equally as careful entering Bucky, ensuring that he was coated liberally before doing so. As soon as Steve was in, Bucky flipped them back over to be on top and began to ride Steve aggressively.

It wasn't until several more climaxes, mostly due to their enhanced bodies, and two hours later that they finally found themselves almost sated enough to end the love making. They had switched the receiving end several times and both felt the pleasurable ache of the encounter. Steve started to laugh as he laid back on his bed Bucky still over him, placing butterfly light kisses along Steve, worshipping his body.

"What?" Bucky asked between kisses being placed along Steve's jaw.

"I just realized that the tabloids are going to go nuts. I'm marrying a man and I have illegitimate children. There goes the perfect image America has built up about me," Steve stated earning him a sharp bite on his neck before Bucky pulled away a little.

"Who cares what society thinks. _You ARE perfect_. You have said it a thousand times, we love who we love, regardless of what anyone else thinks. As for the 'illegitimate children' it isn't like you went about creating them yourself. Hydra did that by stealing your DNA and using it illegally. As far as the world is concerned, you taking care of those children despite having no influence over their births, that makes you a real hero. You aren't responsible for their existance but you choose to take responsibility for them anyways," With this, Bucky went back to the spot he bit and began nipping and sucking on the spot until he felt a suitable love bite had formed.

"Are you marking me?" Steve asked incredulously as he realized what Bucky was doing.

"Yes," Bucky stated bluntly before switching to another spot, where the neck met the shoulder. He continued as he finished the second. "I don't have a ring just yet so this is my next best option."

"Fair enough," Steve agreed before flipping over and on top of Bucky and reciprocating. He only made one mark but it was large enough and positioned high enough for all to see and understand what it meant. When he finished he gave Bucky one last searing kiss before pulling away. "We should probably get to what we said we were going to do but we should also shower first."

Bucky chuckled in agreement as Steve pulled off him and led him from the room still completely naked and into the bathroom. While he turned on the shower, Bucky wrapped his arms around Steve from behind, and began kissing his back and fondling his penis. Steve immediately leant back into Bucky's arms and allowed him to make a few more strokes before turning around and pulling Bucky under the spray of water with him.

Bucky was almost instantly pinned against the tiles before Steve grabbed him on his buttocks and lifted him, using the wall as a brace. Bucky immediately wrapped his legs around Steve's waist and allowed Steve to penetrate him once more in his still loosened hole. This encounter was short and slightly rough, bringing out their more aggressive sides. After another two rounds in the shower, they finally cleaned themselves up properly.

Once they were dried off and dressed once more, Steve sent Bucky to the kitchen to begin packing the perishable foods into the cooler that had also been delivered. Once Bucky was out of his room, he threw the sheets and blankets in the hamper. Then he began preparing a few boxes and emptying his bureau and dresser into them. Another few boxes and his closet was empty. A conveniently located marker was used to label the boxes.

In the top drawer of his dresser at the back, he pulled out a box and opened it and smiled. He had bought the rings online two weeks after he had gotten out of the hospital when Bucky had pulled him from the Potomac. It had been impulsive but he had hoped when he found him that he and Bucky would eventually reach this point. That hope was clearly not in vain. The packing in his room now done, he went to the kitchen and wrapped his arms around Bucky from behind which had the man tense slightly before relaxing.

"You think these will do?" Steve asked as he rested his chin on Bucky's shoulder and opened the box still in his hand for Bucky to see. "I kind of bought them impulsively just after I learnt you were alive."

Bucky looked at the simple twin bands, each held alternating red rubies and blue sapphires in the middle. He was tense as he responded, "I don't know if one will fit."

It took Steve a moment to realize what Bucky was referring to. When he did he turned Bucky around and backed him against the refrigerator. He then carefully pulled out the ring for himself first and handed it to Bucky before holding his hand out so that Bucky could slide it on. Bucky hesitated before doing exactly that.

Once it was firmly on his left ring finger Steve gulped wetly as he pulled the platinum band for Bucky out of the box, "I guess that could be as slight concern. I mean, I knew my size but I did have to guess on yours. The nice thing about rings today is that they can be resized as needed and quite affordably too."

With these words out, Steve firmly took Bucky's metal hand in his own and spread the fingers out. Bucky didn't fight the process even though the rest of his body was stiff. Steve slide the ring on and it stayed exactly where he stopped at the metal webbing between the fingers. Steve smiled at the ring, "Try moving your hand, we don't want it to impede the movement of the mechanics."

Bucky obeyed and found that it didn't impact movement noticeably and finally, visibly relaxed, "You made a good guess. I don't think it will cause any immediate problems."

Steve beamed at him and immediately gave him another impassioned kiss. Before they could go any further in their celebrations, there was a knock on the door. Bucky immediately froze and Steve quickly pulled away. Steve opened on of the kitchen drawers and pulled out a gun and gun clip. He slid the clip home and moved over to the peephole in the door to the apartment. He looked out before relaxing and opening the door for Maria Hill.

She raised an eyebrow at the gun in his hand and he shrugged, "We just raided a hydra base and pulled out a bunch of kids. Also, you or Tony usually call or text before coming over."

"Tony and I both sent texts 45 minutes ago. When you didn't respond he sent me out of concern, although Romanoff didn't seem to worried about the lack of response. What where you doing? I thought you were packing," Hill pointed to his phone that was on the counter.

Steve picked it up after disarming his gun and placing it on the counter. It showed half a dozen texts and three missed calls. He blushed lightly and looked away before moving to his cabinets to begin pulling out the non-perishables, "We were a little distracted. We were in the bedroom packing that."

"Oh, so it has nothing to do with the rings you and Barnes are now wearing?" Hill dryly responded before eyeing Bucky's metal hand.

"Possibly. There isn't anything wrong with asking your boyfriend of 70+ years to marry you, is there?" Bucky was tense as he spoke.

"Not at all. You just should just be more aware of phone calls and messages. Dr. Cho and Dr. Banner turned up something important in their medical examines of the kids. You can leave this here. One of Tony's teams will be around in a half hour to finish the packing and moving everything over to your floor," Hill responded completely ignoring Bucky's defensiveness.

Steve was reading the texts and frowning, "Yeah, ok. You're going to oversee them right?"

"Yes. Here, these are the keys to the car I came in. I'll get a ride back with the movers," Hill handed him the keys. Steve took them before going into his room and coming out with a duffle bag. He put the ring box and the reloaded gun into the bag before leading Bucky out of the apartment.


	9. Chapter 9

**This is a fan made story. I don't own the rights to Captain America, any of its characters or any characters within the MCU… Much to my disappointment. This will have some violent content and possible triggers. Steve/Bucky Established Relationship. Constructive criticism is welcome but if you don't like it simply because you don't like the line of thinking, please don't attack me for it.**

Chapter 9: Bugged

As Steve took the shortest route back to the tower, Bucky read the texts that had been sent. They didn't contain much information. Mainly it was an emphasize of Rebecca requesting his presence before they moved any further forward. Forward on what wasn't explained but it indicated that his eldest was concerned about what was going on.

When they reached the tower, Steve was speculating why Hill didn't go into detail about why they were needed but figured that he shouldn't be focusing on that so much as the fact that they were needed by their children. Steve told FRIDAY to take them to the medical floor where he presumed everyone was waiting. Once they reached the floor and the doors opened, they saw grim faced adults and upset little girls.

"Daddy!" Rebecca reacted immediately and was instantly rushing over to Bucky as he exited the elevator. Sarah had silently done the same, hiding behind Steve rather than clinging to him as Rebecca had.

Natasha, meanwhile was trying to calm a tearful Natalia as Dr. Banner wrapped a bandage around the small child's arm. Tony was pacing and frequently looked to his daughter, worry written over his face. Steve and Bucky's arrival was uncomfortable as Tony immediately ordered FRIDAY to block any new frequencies going out of the room. Steve immediately frowned at this.

"Tony, what is going on?" Steve practically growled out.

"I don't know. Why doesn't your boyfriend tell us?" Tony was instantly hostile. "Why didn't he tell us that they put tracking and listening devices in all the kids. And I mean all of them. FRIDAY?"

"No new signals beyond Captain Rogers phone have been detected, boss," FRIDAY responded immediately.

"What?" Bucky squeaked out, his face draining of blood. "They did what?"

"Bugged them. Little kids. Like little, mini Trojan horses. What's more, your kid won't let us remove the ones in her or Sarah or the boys. We managed to restrain her so that we could get the one out of Natalia," Tony nearly growled.

"It is probably why it was so easy to get them out Steve. Hydra likely wanted to know what we were up to and this is a pretty clever way of doing it, though I doubt that is the original reason they created the kids," Natasha wasn't nearly as accusing as Tony as she stood after Bruce gave Natalia a lollipop for being good.

Bucky immediately crouched down to look Rebecca in the eye while Steve picked Sarah up and carried her over to Bruce. His grim expression saying loud and clear that he wanted the devices out of his children. Bucky spoke gently but firmly, "Rebecca, did you know about these devices being put in you?"

Rebecca shook her head no immediately, "They gave us lots of shots at random times. A lot of them made us drowsy. I didn't know, I swear!" The look of panic and fear was all Bucky needed to believe her.

"Okay. It's okay. I don't blame you. However, those devices are dangerous to you all. They need to come out and you need to let the nice doctors take them out. Okay?" Bucky's serious expression made Rebecca nod hesitantly.

"How are they dangerous?" She whispered.

"If they can track even one of you, they can track us all and that means they can find us no matter where we are and they can come and get any of us any time they want. Worse, they can hear what we are talking about, so they can learn lots of secrets that could make Hydra even more powerful," Bucky explained as simply as he could.

Rebecca nodded more firmly and took his hand, letting him lead her over to Dr. Cho. Bucky let her sit in his lap while Dr. Cho injected a localized numbing agent to keep it from hurting before making a small incision over where the device was placed and used tweezers to remove it from her arm. When she finished she carefully stitched the cut closed and then bandaged it. By the time that she finished, Bruce had already finished with a now upset Sarah and giving the girl another lollipop.

When they finished with the three girls, the two doctors directed their assistants to hold the twins' arms still while they repeated the process on the thankfully asleep boys. Tony didn't relax until Bucky allowed himself to go through a full body scan, his prosthetic arm included, to ensure that he didn't also have a device that was just temporarily inert.

"So, what were you two up to that distracted you from the phone going nuts?" Bruce asked after Tony had calmed and decided to buy more toys for all the children as an apology for making them have very minor surgery to remove the devices.

"Well, I am guessing by the rings that both are wearing, getting engaged and then celebrating that engagement in a very adult way," Natasha smirked at the two who instantly blushed, Steve more so than Bucky.

Bruce looked between the men in confusion, "Wait, that wasn't a joke? Nat was actually right? You're engaged?"

"Yes…" Steve murmured, his blush deepening.

"What other reason would we being wearing matching rings?" Bucky asked more calm over the thing. This made Tony do a double take. Bucky was acting increasingly confident the longer he was around the other Avengers.

"Isn't that rushing things a little? I mean how long have you two been together?" Bruce asked, seeming to think they weren't in a relationship for long.

"Since we were 17? Wait, I was 17, Buck was 18. I never stood a chance," Steve's grin had gotten goofy again, now that the issue with the bugs had been resolved.

Bucky smirked, "Those days were nice. I had way less women to worry about jumping you. Not that I'm complaining about the improvements made by the serum mind. It's nice to not worry about you getting sick all the time but sometimes I miss the you before the serum. You were adorable."

Bucky's words caused Steve's blush to deepen even further as he spoke. By the time the words adorable passed Bucky's lips, Steve's face matched Natasha's hair color. This was too irresistible for Bucky and he took advantage of the distraction of his new fiancé to steal a kiss, "Sometime you still are too."

Natasha chuckled while Tony's expression was of disbelief, having not seen the open displays of affection yet. Finally, he shook his surprise off and moved onto other things, "Ok, well, that's interesting. On to other things though. My legal team has been working on the paperwork for legalizing our custody details. They should be here shortly. Does anything need to be changed before they get here?"

"Yes, Sarah is going to be a Barnes as well. Since we are going to be one big family, the kids should all have the same last name," Steve stated before Bucky could protest.

"Are you sure? This is their legal names we're talking about here," Tony pointed out.

"Yes. There's no reason why she shouldn't have the same last name as her other siblings. I'll take the Barnes name too if that lessens the complications," Steve shrugged.

Bucky's jaw dropped at this information. When he finally got his mouth working again, Bucky groaned, "Is that really a good idea, Steve? Your name is kind of a big deal. You're a national icon. How do you think people would react? Wouldn't it be better if we all took on the Rogers name?"

Natasha raised an eyebrow over this ridiculous turn of events. Steve just sighed, "No. It is going to be bad enough that my perceived fame will limit the privacy our children will have. This will be better."

Bucky recognized the stubborn look that Steve gets when he won't be budged on a matter. Deciding not to mar the day they got engaged any further with arguing.

"Besides, who cares what the public thinks. It isn't their life or family. It's ours. I want this Buck," Steve added more softly, breaking any chance of Bucky arguing further.

"You really want it?" He asks tenderly, stepping in close to Steve.

"Yeah," Steve's response is tender, just above a whisper.

"Ok, Barnes family it is then," Bucky smiled softly before kissing Steve. Both absorbed in the kiss, they miss the arrival of Hill and the smirk of Tony. They don't pull away until Tony starts slow clapping and Maria whistles her appreciation of the scene.

"What did I miss?" Maria asked as the two separated.

"Apparently Captain Rogers is going to become Captain Barnes. It was a touching scene. I will have FRIDAY send you a video. On a side note, are we all done here? I am sure Bruce and Helen want a chance to review what information they can glean from the examinations. Also, I want to figure out how much of an education the kids have gotten, if you don't mind my taking the three girls," Tony stated.

"How is the search for a tutor and nanny going?" Natasha aske Maria as they all entered the elevator.

"I have put out a posting for the position but I can't really begin to narrow it down until Stark gives me more specific parameters for what we need. We could be looking for someone who teaches pre-k or calculus depending on the kids," Maria pointed out.

Tony took the girls all up to a spare lab, the majority of the others following them. Not even two minutes later, a judge and Tony's legal team arrive while Tony is setting the girls up with headphones and tablets. He holds up a finger asking for a minute while getting them settled before joining the adults.

"Well, Mr. Stark. I always go on thinking that nothing else you can do will managed to surprise me. You always manage to prove me wrong," the Judge was dressed in golfing gear.

"Well, I don't usually go out of my way to surprise family court judges. I have always been cautious about avoiding unintentional consequences of being a playboy. I wasn't expecting anyone to go stealing my DNA to make a super kid," Tony countered. "I am surprised that you would give up a Sunday afternoon for me though, Judge Culver. I thought you would be here tomorrow."

"Yes, well when I get a phone call from _your_ legal team stating you need to take legal custody of your daughter and Captain Rogers and Sargent Barnes needed assistance doing the same for their collective four children, two of which are their, joint, twin sons, I give up my Sunday golfing. Though, I am hoping to get in a few rounds after we finish here," Judge Culver stated.

"Well that's convenient for us. Have you read through all the paperwork yet?" Tony asked.

"Not all of it. I think we should go through all of it together," Culver directed him over to some tables. Steve, Bucky and Natasha joined them. Maria and Vision take hold of the boys while they go through all the paperwork with the legal team and the Judge.

A full two hours later, all the paperwork was signed and the Judge only needed to give his signature before they were done. He had signed for Steve and Bucky's kids with little reluctance but paused for Natalia's paperwork, "Now you are certain you two are comfortable with sharing full custody of her. Mr. Stark, I only ask because you have fought more than a few paternity cases in the past."

"Those weren't my kids. DNA tests proved that. Those women were looking for a quick buck. I fought for those DNA tests to determine the truth, not because I didn't want a kid. Natalia _is_ my daughter. That is the very big difference of those cases and this one. I have no issue being a dad to my own kid," Tony was firm and the Judge realized he meant what he was saying.

"Alright. I just wanted to be sure. Not everyone is cut out to be a parent," Culver signed the paperwork and then gathered it all up. "I will make sure this all gets filed first thing tomorrow. On a side note, I do have one concern I think should be expressed. You may want to make up some emergency plans to ensure those kids' safety. You all do draw a lot of attention to yourselves and a plenty of it isn't the friendly, curious kind."

"Two steps ahead of you. No way my little princess gets hurt because I am a hero," Tony nods his understanding. The Judge seems happy with this and leaves, it now far too late for him to get some golfing in.

The legal team leaves just after the judge leaving the Avengers to their privacy. Steve and Bucky were about to go as well, to start settling Steve's stuff into his rooms in the tower and waited for the elevator. The elevator however opened revealing Pepper Potts, stalling their departure.

"Alright Tony, what is so important that I had to fly across the country?" She called out, walking out of the elevator.

Tony perked up. He had hoped that she would come in person but figured it was more likely that she would just facetime him, "Pepper, my dearest. I have very important news." Natasha rolled her eyes and went over to watch Natalia go through the assessment program Tony had the girls going through, no doubt being run by F.R.I.D.A.Y.

"Why are there children here?" Pepper asked, side tracked by Natasha's movement.

"That is why you were called here. Yesterday, we went on a mission. That mission revealed five children. Four of them are Steve and Bucky's… One of them was mine and Natasha's. Apparently, Hydra stole some DNA from us," Tony, for once, got straight to the point.

"You have got to be kidding," Pepper looked at him like it was a joke. "What is this, international prank day or something? No, it must be a joke. You would never let someone get ahold of your DNA."

"Hydra did. This isn't a joke Pep, I wouldn't joke about something like this," Tony argued, using logic. He didn't joke about children.

"Tony, I'm not sure you understand what having a child entails. You would have to give up the parties, the drinking, all your wild way, out the window," Pepper pointed out, her voice worried as she realized he was serious.

"I know. I don't want to be my father. Natasha will help but I am not ignoring my daughter either," Tony responded, completely serious.

"Tony, you don't even _like_ kids. You've had dozens of paternity cases where you fought tooth and nail to be kept free of that responsibly," Pepper's voice was sharper now.

"Because they _weren't my kids_. I wasn't those kids father. I _am_ Natalia's father. We did a DNA test immediately after we found them. She's my daughter. I can do this. I asked you to come here so that I could tell you in person. I didn't want you do learn about it in the press conference tomorrow. You deserve to hear it directly from me," Tony was trying to keep calm but the way Pepper was becoming more agitated was upsetting him.

"Tony, you can't do this. You just aren't father material. You've had no good examples," Pepper was borderline panicking now.

"I can't, or you can't?" Tony finally figured out what was bothering her. "I know you aren't a big kid person, but I kind of figured you wouldn't have an issue with it when we had kids."

"When _we had kids?_ _KIDS_?! As in plural? No, absolutely not. I would have been willing for one child if we agreed on a nanny and full childcare in advance but I have a lot of things that can't be avoided. I'm the CEO of _your company_. I don't have time for kids," Pepper finally revealed her position on the matter. "You're child enough."

"Really? That's it? One kid? And then what? Nannies, house staff caring for them. We go on like always? Pepper, you know how much I hated my dad because he always ignored me. You want me to do that to my own kid? To make my little girl think that she isn't loved because I'm too busy with work and parties? You know I can't do that," Tony pointed out, now angry. He glanced over to where the girls were working on their assessments. He was relieved to note that they weren't disturbed because the headphones blocked out the noise. Steve and Bucky were giving them space and entertaining the boys.

"So, what then?" Pepper growled out, frustrated.

"So, nothing. You don't want kids. I have a kid. There seems to be only one option here," Tony stated, giving up the thought of keeping Pepper in his life. He would stand his ground for once. There was a line that needed to be drawn and she was crossing his.

"Oh, don't be a child. I am sure there is some way we can work this out," Pepper snapped.

"Really? You think there is a way to work around another human being. Are you going to ignore her? Pretend she doesn't exist like you pretended I didn't exist for the past month, since the Ultron incident? I don't think so. I get that I screwed up with Ultron. We all know that but this is different. There isn't a work around. I cannot have a relationship with someone who isn't going to accept my daughter needs to be a priority," Tony made an effort to not raise his voice.

"And who is going to run your company?" Pepper glared.

"You're going to refuse to be CEO to Stark Industries if I break up with you?" Tony asked incredulously.

"I can't just work for my ex Tony. You have your line, I have mine. I am not going to be that pathetic girl pining after her boss," Pepper snarled.

"So, you're going to try to black mail me into being your boyfriend? Fine, quit. You would be surprised how useful the rest of the team can be. Natasha and Clint don't have any job other than the team now. Steve is actually a bit of a genius when it comes to business. He really knows how to work the stocks. I can be CEO again and make it work with their help," Tony crossed his arms and glared at Pepper.

"Fine. I'll contact the legal team in the morning," Pepper huffed.

"Don't bother waiting. They are downstairs right now. They just finished with the custody papers," Tony's arrogance was in full swing now.

"Fine," Pepper turned and stormed out. The elevator opening as she approached and closing immediately after.

"Thanks, FRIDAY. Well, that could have gone better," Tony sighed as Steve and Bucky came over.

"Certainly didn't look pleasant," Steve pointed out. He was holding George and feeding him.

"You heard everything, didn't you?" Tony asked sighing.

Steve shrugged, "Super hearing. Sorry, we weren't trying to listen in. And, we will absolutely help out. You can do paperwork while Natalia does school work. We'll split who covers the social events. The kids are going to be homeschooled, I'm guessing, so we can bounce around a bit more."

"Thanks, Steve. I appreciate it. On that note, FRIDAY, how are the kids doing?" Tony chose to focus on what he deemed most important.

"Rebecca is on 12 grade math, science, and English. However, it seems she was never given history lessons or art lessons, in fact, none of the girls have. She is also capable of college level programing. Natalia is at roughly 8th grade math, science and English. She has even more advanced computer programing than Rebecca is. Sarah is on 2nd grade math, science and English and only beginner programing. They all appear to be fluent in English, German, French, Russian and Mandarin as well," F.R.I.D.A.Y. gave an immediate update. "I believe they have reached the extent of their knowledge that can be tested at the moment."

"Thank you," Tony nodded and walked over to the girls. They were already taking off the headphones. Tony immediately picked up Natalia and crowed over her. "Look at you, my little genius. You make not have been in my plans but if I had to pick a kid, you would be it."

Natasha rolled her eyes but let him have his moment, "We should probably plan for supper soon."

"Bucky and I can make it, if you will take the Sarah, George and Joseph. Rebecca, you're going to help us," Steve looked at his, now by law, daughter.

Rebecca nodded in understanding. Wanda had arrived while they were getting the girls' assessments. She quickly took Joseph from Bucky while Natasha took George. Both women were happy to let the men do the work.


	10. Chapter 10

**This is a fan made story. I don't own the rights to Captain America, any of its characters or any characters within the MCU… Much to my disappointment. This will have some violent content and possible triggers. Steve/Bucky Established Relationship. Constructive criticism is welcome but if you don't like it simply because you don't like the line of thinking, please don't attack me for it.**

Chapter 10: Team Work

Steve and Bucky took Rebecca to the main floor for the first time. She looked around in a little awe of the excessive, over the top appearance of the place. Steve directed her and Bucky immediately to the kitchen. He immediately opened one of the cabinets and pulled out a cookbook that was eerily familiar to Bucky.

"Is that what I think it is?" He asked, a little stunned.

"My mom's cookbook? Yep. I'm thinking about copying everything over into something a little less fragile since it is kind of old. Maybe add some of my own, but I think Rebecca should learn the recipes in here. Keep the tradition alive," Steve smiled at the thought. "Besides, I want the kids used to real cooking, not the super processed stuff that's so frequent today."

"Fantastic. What are we making?" Bucky asked eagerly now. Rebecca seemed a bit confused but went with it.

"I thought we could start with something simple. Spaghetti and Meatballs?" Steve looked to Bucky.

"That is going to be a mess to clean up after eating," Bucky pointed out.

"But we're cooking, that means someone, probably Bruce and Helen, will be stuck cleaning up. Those are the rules," Steve smirked.

"I can live with that. What am I on?" Bucky was happy to go with it.

"Meatballs, you teach Rebecca that. I will get the sauce started and show you both how to do the pasta since the technology has advanced quite a bit since the days of rolling it out by hand," Steve responded before pulling out some aprons. He handed Rebecca Natasha's apron and Bucky got Bruce's. He made a mental note to get them both aprons so they don't have to borrow others.

After that they pulled out all the ingredients that would be needed. Bucky happily dumped the pre-ground meat into a bowel and walked Rebecca through all the other things that went into making a good meatball.

Steve, meanwhile, chopped onions and garlic before putting them into a pot with olive oil to caramelize. Once they were ready, he opened cans of ground tomatoes and tomato puree and put those into the pot, stirring it until it was mixed properly. He chopped up herbs and added those as well. He gave it a stir before lowering the temperature to let it simmer.

Bucky and Rebecca were taking the mixture they had made and turning it into balls. Steve got out a pan and started searing them on all sides, while keeping an eye on the sauce. Once all the meatballs were cooked on the outside, they all went onto a pan and into the oven to finish cooking.

He directed Bucky and Rebecca to wash their hands well as he pulled out the stuff for the pasta. This was the amusing part for both the adults as they talked the eight-year-old through the process of mixing the pasta dough. She stood on a stool to be at the right height and it was mostly Bucky talking her through the process as Steve was keeping an eye on the sauce and then setting up water to boil.

When it was properly mixed, Steve had set up an electric dough device that Steve showed Bucky how to run through for the process of thinning it to the right thickness. Bucky immediately pointed out how much easier this was which earned him a kiss. When it was the right thickness, Steve and Bucky showed Rebecca how to cut the noodles to the right width. They went into the pot of boiling water, Steve pulled the now finished sauce off the stove and the fully cooked meatballs came out of the oven.

"Oh my, are cooking lessons going to be something regular because, I will volunteer for clean up if it always smells this good," Bruce stated as he came out of the elevator.

Bucky started cutting veggies to make a salad for a side as well. Bruce watched as Steve slipped a bit of the sauce to the side for him before dumping all the meatballs into the sauce and making sure they were all fully coated.

Rebecca was now bouncing up and down, "I don't know what we just made. Yes, I heard what it's called but I don't know what it is. It smells good. I don't know how I know it smells good I just do."

Bucky chuckled, "You have good instincts, kid. This was always a favorite of mine back before the war. Steve's mom had the best recipes and she taught them all to me and Steve."

"Okay! This was fun," Rebecca smiled. Everyone else slowly filtered up to the main floor. Natasha was speaking to Natalia in Russian now that she knew her daughter could already speak it. She corrected the little girl occasionally on the pronunciation of some words but was generally pleased. Tony handed Joseph off to Maria as soon as he saw her and she looked clueless as to what to do with the sleeping baby.

With supper finished, Steve left it to Bucky to get everything into the appropriate bowels and showed Rebecca how to set a table properly. Helen took Joseph from Maria and put the boy into a bassinet next to his equally asleep twin. Natalia and Sarah were secured in booster seats. When everyone was seated, Bucky brought the food over and started serving out the noodles in appropriate portions. Steve felt a level of relief at the knowledge that Thor had returned to his place living with Jane.

The bowl of meat free sauce went to Bruce, the vegetarian, and the rest of the sauce and meatballs was passed around to the rest. Rebecca was allowed to serve herself but Steve and Natasha served Natalia and Sarah. Steve cut Sarah's food into small bits and let her wreak havoc on the food in front of her. Natasha debated about doing the same but then decided to enforce utensils for her slightly older daughter. She still made the pieces small though.

"So, I was thinking, we could invite Clint and his family to live here too. If I recall correctly, Laura has a master's degree in business, and their oldest is Rebecca's age so she will have someone to be friends with," Natasha commented as they all started eating.

"What does she do now?" Tony asked, seriously considering it.

"She works from home, because of the whole Clint being super protective, but it is as a senior executive for Google. She can't really move higher due to her working from home but I am sure she would like a chance at more," Natasha responded, correcting Natalia's hold on her children's fork.

"I could work with that. You think that she would agree to be my PA with Steve?" Tony asked, Steve rolled his eyes but didn't object.

He had actually learnt pretty quickly how to manage his own investments for the back pay he got from the army when he came out of the ice. Thus, he had a substantial amount of money now. He realized that was probably a good thing too, having four children now.

"Are you going to ask Steve if he wants to be your PA?" Bruce decided to come to Steve's defense.

"It's fine Bruce. I've caught up on as much as I can in the past six years. These days I spend most of my time managing my portfolio in the stock market. It's really simple once you figure out how it works. As long as Tony doesn't expect much more, it shouldn't be an issue," Steve sighed. "Though I expect good pay. I got a family to support."

"Oh, you'll have great pay. Bruce, would I be able to persuade you to take over most of the management of R & D?" Tony assured before looking to his friend.

"I'm not sure I am qualified for that," Bruce looked uncomfortable. "Maybe Cho would be better."

"We could be co-directors," Helen offered to the reluctant man. He sighed before nodding.

"You really meant it when you said that you wouldn't let Stark Industries consume you like it did your father, didn't you," Natasha asked, glancing at her daughter.

"Yes, I did. Natalia will never have to wonder for a second if her old man loves her. She will know it," Tony was dead serious on the matter. "On that note. I think I need to stop drinking. Alcohol kills the liver and I want to stick around for the kid so I think it might be a must."

Everyone except for the children and Bucky stopped moving. Tony let the silence reign for a moment before continuing, "Yeah, I can acknowledge it. I have a problem and I need to do the right thing. Alcohol was one of my father's vices, it is one of mine but I don't want it to be my daughter's."

"If you're going to do this, it has to be done right. We should treat it like any addiction. That means we need to remove all temptation of it," Bruce looked directly at Tony.

"Easy. Steve, will you help me clean out all the alcohol from the shared floor, mine and the labs? That's step one, right? Just don't dump it all down the drain dramatically. It's the good stuff. Save it for special occasions or something when I'm going to have the world watching me, everyone else can have it, just not me. Also, put it somewhere I can't find it and I can't guess where it is," Tony looked at the table, refusing to look at anyone.

"I'm proud of you, Tony. You're doing a good thing for your daughter," Steve finally says into the quiet and Tony gets a funny look in his eye before it disappears and the tension is broken.

Everyone has finished eating by this point so Helen and Bruce stand to start collecting plates. Natasha gets a washcloth to wipe Natalia's face and hands clean. She had gotten distracted because of the conversation and Natalia had eaten with her hands as a result. Bucky did the same for Sarah, the little blonde squirming happily from the food she had eaten.

"Oh. Before I forget again. There is something interesting that I found in the girls' files. I decided to read through them completely, to see if they were documenting everything they did to them. They were by the way, but there was an interesting entry from about four days ago. Rebecca, would you care to tell everyone what you, Natalia and Sarah did?" Bruce looked to the eight-year-old who blushed and shook her head.

"What did they do?" Steve asked confused about where this was going.

"Apparently, Natalia is an expert hacker. She and Rebecca hacked into the main systems for the base and then tried to escape, Sarah apparently was acting as a diversion," Bruce looked extremely amused.

"We weren't trying to escape," Rebecca spoke quickly. "We weren't leaving Joseph and George behind and we knew that Sarah and Natalia wouldn't be able to get over the perimeter fence anyways. They only thought we were. What we _were_ doing was sending all of our files to all the other Hydra bases. We had overheard some of our handlers talking about how you guys kept taking out Hydra bases, so we figured that if a group of superheroes saw a bunch of files of little kids being experimented on, they would come rescue us. Natalia also inserted a bunch of different viruses into the base computers so that if the perimeter alarms got tripped, it would make all the base systems malfunction. Like the intercom system didn't work and the alarms didn't work and the electric locks malfunctioned, they couldn't communicate with the other bases, stuff like that."

Bucky looked at his daughter with approval. Tony started laughing, "So your escape plan was to make Hydra _think you were escaping_ but really you were sending a massive S.O.S. signal. That's smart. You're my second favorite kid now."

"I don't know what an S.O.S. is but it was a call for help," Natalia spoke to the group as a whole for the first time. Steve looked in surprise at the soft tone of her voice. Considering the rough nature of her parents, it was odd hearing something so gentle from her.

"That, my little angel, is exactly what an S.O.S. is. A call for help. So, when we came and got you, that is why you all came so easily. You were expecting us. I guess that makes sense," Tony smiled at the little girl. "At least the right people got the message. Did you know that we were your parents?"

"Rebecca knew that he was her daddy," Natalia pointed to Bucky before continuing. "She said we had to make sure the intercoms couldn't work or they would use them to catch him. I didn't know you were _my daddy._ "

Bucky nodded approval, "Well, fortunately, we found out a way to keep the intercoms from taking control of my mind, Rebecca, but good thinking. You planned for everything. You even used teamwork, using everyone based on their skills. That is the thinking of a leader. That is also probably why they put those trackers and listening devices in too. You showed that you were capable of making a plan to escape so they likely weren't taking chances."

Steve agreed and went and found an empty box, "Yep, it's likely that was why they were split up too. Now, we need to ensure that Tony can use his skills for a long time to come."

Tony only half reluctantly stood and began helping Steve ferret out all the different bottles of liquor from various places on the floor. Once the box was full Tony did one last surprising thing, "F.R.I.D.A.Y., no matter how desperate I become, no matter what I say in the future, under no circumstances are you to inform me of where Steve takes all the alcohol. Also, you are to check my blood alcohol every time I enter the Tower or any building I own. If there is any in my system, Natasha and Steve are to be informed immediately, and by any, I mean even the smallest amount. These ordered are to go into your main proto-calls. They are not to be removed by anyone, even myself. If I try, you are to inform Steve and Natasha. Is that clear?"

"Yes, boss," F.R.I.D.A.Y. confirmed.

"If he attempts to order alcohol by any means, deny him access and inform myself and Steve as well," Natasha added, realizing the loophole.

"Boss?" F.R.I.D.A.Y. questioned.

"Do it," Tony said without hesitating, nodding to Natasha.

"If he tries to create alcohol or bring it onto any Stark property as well," Bruce offered up, realizing that Tony knew how to make his own.

"Do it," Tony stated firmly before F.R.I.D.A.Y. could even ask. "In fact, if it has anything connecting me accessing or consuming the stuff in anyway, alert Steve and Natasha."

"Yes, Boss," F.R.I.D.A.Y. confirmed again. Tony sighed as he watched Steve locate a few more boxes and filling another with the bottles. He then let Tony lead him to his floor to collect them from there.

Bucky looked at Natasha, a bit confused, "How bad was Howard's drinking that Tony is this adverse to it now that he has a kid? It didn't seem that bad during the war."

"From what Tony's said, apparently losing you and Steve during WWII really messed with his dad. Supposedly, Howard Stark spent a lot of time and money trying to find Steve when it ended, he went off the deep end. Drank constantly. Eventually, he and Peggy Carter founded SHIELD, they even made you and Steve honorary members. You were listed as the first SHIELD Agent to fall in the line of duty," Natasha answered. "This is for the best, really. It's the right choice for Tony and for Natalia. I will probably give up the stuff too. It really isn't good for a kid to see their parents drinking."

"Guess Steve and I got lucky then. We don't have any reason to drink. We can't get drunk," Bucky chuckled. "That will probably stand true for the kids as well."

"That's certainly one way to look at it," Natasha stated. "Well, I should get Natalia cleaned up and changed before giving her over to Tony for the night. We decided to trade off nights which I will definitely need. I think he set up a bed in his lab for her. I hope he has headphones too."

Bucky watched as Natasha left. He then turned to Bruce and Helen, "Mind helping me get the kids down to my floor?"

"Sure, I should probably show you how to give the boys a bath. Babies are a little different from small children," Helen smiled. "Tony should have gotten everything needed for that."

Bruce didn't respond so much as he picked up Joseph and headed for the elevator. Bucky retrieved the still messy Sarah from her booster seat while Helen collected George. Wanda waved them off and finished the clean-up of everything. Most of the dishes went directly into the dishwasher.


	11. Chapter 11

**This is a fan made story. I don't own the rights to Captain America, any of its characters or any characters within the MCU… Much to my disappointment. This will have some violent content and possible triggers. Steve/Bucky Established Relationship. Constructive criticism is welcome but if you don't like it simply because you don't like the line of thinking, please don't attack me for it.**

Chapter 11: Fatherhood

When all the alcohol from various hiding places had been collected, Steve ferried all the boxes down to his personal gym. Each of the Avengers had their own gym, and each gym had its own features. Steve's gym was simpler than the others but it did have a few empty closets. One of these was where the alcohol went. Fortunately, a majority of the bottles were unopened so he didn't have to worry about anything going bad. Steve locked the door when the boxes were all in the closet.

"F.R.I.D.A.Y., please notify me if Tony enters my gym without my presence," Steve stated.

"Of course, Captain Rogers," F.R.I.D.A.Y. confirmed.

Steve returned to his floor to find Sarah getting a bath. Bucky was watching as Helen explained why she was doing what she was doing with the girl. When Sarah was finished, Rebecca was allowed to shower on her own, though Helen told the girl to make sure she washed everything. After the kids were all clean, Steve and Bucky braided the Sarah's hair. Helen declared herself impressed until Bucky said that his mom had taught them to do it for his younger sister.

Bedtime stories were read, little girls tucked into bed and boys secured into bassinets. When that was done, Helen sat on their couch for a moment, "To be honest, the way the girls had reacted to this whole thing had me confused until Bruce found that information. I have to admit that they seem pretty well socialized considering their circumstances. Often, children who lack sufficient affection in their developmental years can have difficulty bonding. I can only hope this isn't going to be the case with these children. Some do turn out ok. Having each other has likely done a lot to mitigate the emotional damage they would have otherwise suffered."

"I don't think they were ever really neglected, maybe that is the difference. They got attention, even if it wasn't affection. Obviously, they did get education, not through but that can be corrected," Steve pointed out.

"Well, the lack of affection can be corrected too. I was a little surprised that Tony chose his daughter over Pepper but that does say how he feels about everything," Helen smiled as she stood. "Night."

"Night," Steve nodded before getting up and going to bed. He climbed in behind Bucky and kissed the back of his neck and going to sleep.

Meanwhile, Natasha had given Natalia a bath and took her down to Tony's lab. It was notable quieter than usual. Tony was laying out what looked like an array of tools for no reason. The moment he noticed the two, he immediately came over and took Natalia.

"So… Say good night to Mommy, Natalia," Tony stated as he slid the pajamaed girl onto his hip.

"Good night, Mommy," Natalia obeyed making Natasha smile.

She quickly kissed the girl on her cheek, "Good night, little monster. Tony, she definitely takes after you when it comes to sleep. In other words, she doesn't, so good luck with that."

"Ah, you are like daddy, huh? One of the sleepless elite?" Tony chuckled. Natasha watched as he took Natalia over to the table with tools laid out on it.

"And Tony. No teaching our daughter to build robots or AI or Iron Kid suits until she's at least ten," Natasha added before going to the elevator. Tony's laughter ringing out behind her.

"Mommy's no fun, huh? Well, I may not teach you how to make a robot just yet, but I am going to teach you the basics of engineering. It is an important thing for you to learn since you are going to be the future head of Stark Industries," Tony spoke directly to his daughter, treating her like an adult. It had occurred to him that if she was capable of hacking Hydra's computers to implant a bunch of viruses, she was probably smart enough to understand him talking to her like an adult.

"What's engineering?" Natalia predictably asked.

"Well… It is like being a creator or doctor for machines. Sometimes you make something new and sometimes you fix something that is broken. Since Mommy says you can't learn how to build a robot yet, I'll start with something easy for you to build," Tony smiled before sitting her on a raised stool in front of the table of tools. "But before we can do any of that, you have to learn the very basics. Each of these tools has a purpose and a name. I want you to point to them and F.R.I.D.A.Y. is going to tell you what it is and what it is for. Okay? Just go through that until you think you have memorized them all."

Natalia got a determined look on her face as she nodded. She pointed to the first tool and F.R.I.D.A.Y. did exactly as Tony had promised. Her heard the little girl recite what the A.I. had told her a few times before pointing to the next tool. Satisfied that she was doing as asked, Tony went to the table next to hers and put up a base hologram for his emergency plan for the kids.

It was a simple design he was calling Iron Cradle. That was for the boys. He got to work on finishing the schematics for the Iron Cradle, that took only a half hour as he had done most of it the night before. He then pulled up the base design for his Iron Man suit and began shrinking it down and simplifying it to one basic purpose, encase and transport the child within. This one was Iron Toddler for Sarah and Natalia. As there were no free controls for the kids involved, he simplified it as much as possible. He was only a short while after he started on Iron Toddler that Natalia hopped off her chair and walked over to him.

"I know them all," She stated confidently.

"Oh really?" Tony smiled, if she really did know them all that meant she had an eidetic memory, just like he did. "Go bring me an 8/10th flex-head socket wrench."

"You don't have one of those," Natalia stated immediately.

"Ok, bring me a monkey wrench then," Tony smiled as she turned around and returned to the table, grabbed exactly what he asked for and brought it back.

"Ok, go put that back and bring me a Phillip's head screwdriver," Tony nodded.

Natalia put the wrench back where she had gotten it and grabbed the screwdriver bringing it back.

"Good, what is this used for?" Tony quizzed.

"To tighten or loosen Phillip's head screws," Natalia answered without hesitating.

Tony spent another half hour quizzing her on all the tools before he was satisfied. He nodded his head in approval, "Very good, kid. Eidetic memory huh? You'll find that useful."

"What's an eidetic memory?" Natalia asked, taking his approval as permission to climb into his lap, something he didn't protest.

"It is a perfect memory. It means that once you memorize something, you don't forget it. I have it too. Not always the most fun thing to have but you will learn to live with it," Tony explained as he went back to working on the schematic for Iron Toddler.

"Oh, yeah. I have that. Our handlers called it photographic memory. Rebecca and Sarah don't have it but they said that they were really smart even though they don't. What are you doing?" Natalia asked propping her elbows on the table in front of her.

"I am designing a suit for you and Sarah," Tony answered without stopping.

"Why?"

"To protect you guys if someone bad attacks."

"Why?"

"Because I don't want you to get hurt."

"Why would I get hurt?"

"Because the bad people will want to hurt you to get to me and your mommy."

"Why?"

"Because I'm your daddy. It's my job to protect you. It hurts me and your mommy if you get hurt."

"Why?"

"Because we love you, my little why monster."

"Why?"

Tony sighed and kissed the little girl's red curls before answering, "Because you are perfect. Now, if you can keep quiet for long enough for me to finish this, I will teach you how to build a car engine."

Natalia immediately fell silent, watching as he worked out the mechanics of making the suit smaller. Eventually, she wriggled around to face him and draped herself against his chest and took a nap. Tony resisted the urge to chuckle about her behaving like an octopus and focused on the project at hand.

Two hours later, just as he finished the Iron Toddler design, Natalia woke. She immediately asked if he was done yet. Tony did laugh at this and informed her he was. He watched as she hopped out of his lap immediately and stared at him expectantly. Tony immediate stood and went over to a third table. On this table, laid out in order, were the parts to a small, two-cylinder engine. Tony had already decided that his daughter's first introduction into engineering and mechanics would be to build her own miniaturized car. It wouldn't be like those stupid, store bought kids cars either. It would be an actual mini car that she could drive around the tower at will.

He glanced at the clock and noted it was just after midnight. Natalia spent her early morning, building her first engine, using parts that Tony had ordered and following the designs Tony had drawn up for her. By the time Natasha returned to the lab in the morning, Natalia had finished her very first engine. She was once again napping, clinging to Tony's chest, while Tony worked on his design for the suit for extracting Rebecca in an emergency.

Natasha quickly and quietly slipped her cellphone out of her pocket and snapped a photo of the two. She sent the picture to Clint, captioned 'Two days and my daughter gave the tin man a heart." The rest of the team got the picture as it was, Tony included. The angle of the picture allowed the viewer see exactly who was holding the little girl.

"Morning. How did the night go?" Natasha asked as she approached him.

Natalia's head immediately popped up and Natasha noticed the girl had a little grease on her face and hands, "Mommy! I built an engine! Daddy says we are going to build me a car!" The three-year-old wriggled out of Tony's lap and rushed over to Natasha, wrapping her arms around Natasha's legs.

"Did he now? What kind of car, daddy?" Natasha looked at him, eyebrow raised.

"A Mini Stark car…" Tony offered lamely. "Basically, a miniaturized car that she can drive around the tower. It won't be able to do more than four miles per an hour. A toy really."

"Uh huh. Okay, so long as it's safe. Well, I suppose we should get you cleaned up for breakfast. Are you hungry?" Natasha turned back to the little girl, picking her up.

"Yep!" Natalia responded before talking a mile a minute, much to Natasha's amusement. Another raised eyebrow at Tony got a shrug from him as he stood and stretched, shutting down what he was working on.

"You should clean up too. Don't forget you called that press conference for today," Natasha pointed out before taking her now talkative daughter back up to her rooms to clean the little girl up.

Clearly, Natasha thought, the key to getting her daughter to open up was prolonged exposure to her father. Natalia spent the time Natasha was cleaning her and redressing her telling her mother all about her adventures during the night. When she finished, Natasha looked at her daughter, "So, do you want to spend the nights with your daddy? I know you had trouble sleeping with me."

"It isn't that I had trouble sleeping. I just don't like sleeping a lot," Natalia answered with a shrug, deciding that she didn't want to be carried around that day.

"I see. Well, there are worse traits you could inherit from your father," Natasha said as she checked her phone, having gotten a response from Clint.

It was, 'I thought he preferred an older red-head'. Natasha sighed before sending back, 'That older red-head isn't really big on kids. Guess who the tin man chose. On a side note of that topic, do you think Laura would be willing to share the job of being Tony's PA with Steve? Pepper decided she didn't want to be CEO if it didn't come with bedtime privileges.'

Natasha followed Natalia into the elevator as she sent the text. Clint responded almost immediately. 'What about the kids?' Natasha smiled, 'We were thinking that we could all be one big, happy family. It isn't like you can hide them forever, they do need to socialize with the outside world. Tony will even pay for the tutors and nanny.'

The phone was slipped back into her pocket as they exited onto the shared floor where only a few of the residents were already present. Steve and Bucky were manning the stove again. Rebecca was standing in front of Steve as he talked the girl through the art of flipping a pancake. Sarah sat in a high chair already, plain, chopped-up pancake in front of her. The blonde had a t-shirt covering her clothing, so Natasha guessed she was already dressed for the press conference, underneath. Rebecca, was also similarly dress, though she also wore Natasha's apron.

"How did last night go?" Natasha asked the men, she noted that Joseph and George were wiggling around on the floor, Joseph seemed to be almost army crawling and George kept trying to figure out the mechanics of balancing on all fours.

"The boys only woke once, thankfully. I'm hoping that the first night was just because they were transitioning to a new place," Steve stated.

At that point, Bruce came off the elevator and froze at the sight of the two boys working their attempts at mobility. Natasha looked at the stunned man in confusion. That confusion increased when Helen came out of the elevator moments later and did the exact same thing.

"Ok, what is with you two?" Natasha finally asked the gaping pair of doctors.

"Wh-how long have they been doing that?" Bruce finally sputtered out.

"Doing what?" Steve asked, looking over to the twins.

"About two weeks," Rebecca answered before Steve could figure out what was upsetting the doctors.

"That is way too advanced for their age. At best, four-month-olds are learning to roll over and sit up on their own," Helen stated bluntly, walking over to the boys and crouching down to observe them more closely. "Their muscles shouldn't be this developed yet. They didn't do this yesterday either."

"Well did you put them on the floor and let them do their thing or were you holding them the whole time?" Steve asked, behaving like this wasn't unusual for him.

"No, we didn't think there was any point. They were hard enough to keep from rolling over on the tables," Helen stated, clearly rattled.

"Maybe it's the serum thing. It does affect the genetics, you said, so it might change the development of the kids. Make it happen a little faster. Sarah talks really well for a two-year-old after all," Bucky suggested, putting scrambled eggs on a plate before pouring more into the pan.

Bruce and Helen consider this for a moment before accepting this theory and making mental notes of the boys' developments to document later. Everyone sits and starts eating. George and Joseph have already had their bottles so they were allowed to continue playing. Natasha noted that Tony was a bit jittery, most likely due to the fact that he hadn't had any alcohol in over a day, but he didn't seem to notice it himself and focused instead on watching his daughter attempt to navigate the uses of a fork.

Steve made a similar observation and gave the man an extra cup of coffee as a reward. As expected, the two smaller girls made a mess of themselves. Rebecca was having better luck. It was only a little different from the morning before so it took only a little observation of the adults for her to figure out how to manage the pancakes. It was amusing to Tony that all three girls seemed determined to eat more than he did.

"Clint said the have his floor ready for his family. They will be here in a few hours. If there is going to be a press conference, he figures we may as well do all of it at once," Natasha announced to Tony, slipping her cell back into her pocket again. Tony nodded. Clint must have decided that it was probably best to stick together on the whole family thing and that the risk was better faced together. Tony then made a mental note to ask Clint for advice on raising girls. The man already had one of his own that was older than Natalia so he had real experience with that age range, even if it wasn't at the same education level as Natalia.


	12. Chapter 12

**This is a fan made story. I don't own the rights to Captain America, any of its characters or any characters within the MCU… Much to my disappointment. This will have some violent content and possible triggers. Steve/Bucky Established Relationship. Constructive criticism is welcome but if you don't like it simply because you don't like the line of thinking, please don't attack me for it.**

 **Author's Note: Apologies for the delay. I have been distracted due to stress because of our oh so wonderful Idiot-in-Chief. I will attempt to keep up a more regular posting from now on but if things go downhill, I might have another lull.**

Chapter 12: Press Conference

Clint and his family managed to arrive just an hour before the press conference. His first order of business was a quick introduction of his three children to the others. Cooper and Lila were around Rebecca's age and they all seemed to size each other up but seemed to accept the presence of new people their own age. Nathanial was only slightly younger than Sarah and the two seemed to instantly click.

"Maria, I hear you are going to be the one leading the team packing up the farm. Take this, it's a list of where all the traps are," Clint handed the woman a folder stuffed with papers. Hill rolled her eyes but didn't complain. It would have been stranger if the man hadn't gone to extensive lengths to protect his family. Stark was already building more robots to protect his daughter and he had known the girl existed for all of two days.

"Right. So, Natasha went through your floor and secured anything that might be dangerous if toddler hands got on it. Go ahead and bring your stuff down. The press conference is being held in the lobby here so that we don't have to travel anywhere with the kids," Tony stated bluntly.

Clint stared at Tony for a few seconds, "Are you _sober? Like, completely sober?_ " The man asked stunned at the possibility.

"Yes, well… I decided that I will not be like my father when it comes to my own child. My father was a raging alcoholic, because of that he got into a car accident that killed him and my mom. So, that means no alcohol," Tony looked away slightly, fidgeting a bit. "It's a new rule. If you want to know where any is, you'll have to ask Steve because I literally do not know, nor do I want to know, where he hid it."

Clint looked over to Natasha and Steve in disbelief only to have them nod in confirmation that it was true. Natasha shrugged at his raised eyebrow. Steve actually spoke, "I went through every place we could think of and collected it all. Believe me when I say, I have never seen so much alcohol at once before. He even ordered F.R.I.D.A.Y. to deny him access to any available options."

Clint stood in awe for a moment before commenting, "You know, I have thought that the world was coming to an end a few times before but now I am certain of the apocalypse being in our near future." With this he hustled his family onto the elevator with the bags they had brought with them.

An hour later, Tony walked onto a makeshift stage in his lobby that was filled to the brim with reporters and journalist. The last few times he had held press conferences he had announce some rather outrageous things but this one would really put a new level to the crazy. He waited until the fell silent before speaking.

"Hello, I know you are all excited to be here and the learn about the latest and greatest news I have to offer. That being said, I really need to ask you not to ask any questions until I, myself, and the rest of the Avengers finish speaking. After that, if you can be patient we will open things up for some questions, which, I'm sure by that point, you will have a lot of. Thank you," Tony began, trying to be polite for once in the hopes that he got that returned in kind.

"Three days ago, Captain Rogers was contacted by Sargent James Buchannan Barnes. Sargent Barnes, as you might know, was a prisoner of the terrorist organization known Hydra since WWII. He was controlled using mind control. However, after the events that occurred last year, with the fall of both SHIELD and the sleeper organization Hydra within it, Sargent Barnes broke free of that mind control and began attempting to recover his memories while simultaneously attempting to remain out of the hands of Hydra. When he contacted Captain Rogers three days ago, Sargent Barnes had recovered enough of his memory to know that Captain Rogers was someone he could always trust and that the Avengers could provide him with aid," Tony paused taking a sip of water before continuing. Thankfully, the reports were absolutely silent, sensing he wasn't finished.

"The main reason Sargent Barnes contacted us was that, in his attempts to recover his memory, he began remembering a young girl from his past approximately three years ago, this girl was, per those acting as his handlers and hers, his daughter that he was being forced to train. Eventually, much like everything else, his memory of her was temporarily wiped as part of the mind control. His recollection of her, however, brought him to the one person he _knew_ he could trust, Steve Rogers. Captain Rogers naturally brought this information to the rest of the Avengers. We then used what information Sargent Barnes could provide to plan a rescue mission of his daughter," Tony took another pause as he shuffled to the next page of the speech Natasha had written out for him.

"Said rescue mission was a success; however, it bore some unexpected fruit in addition to Sargent Barnes's daughter. Hydra, acting in a highly illegal manner, had managed to acquire the DNA of three members of the Avengers, specifically, myself, Natasha Romanoff and Captain Rogers. Using this DNA, they created several more children," At this point Tony had to pause while the room burst into a mass of noise as the reporters all starting asking questions. He waited for them to quiet before continuing.

"As I said, they created several, or four to be exact, more children. One was made using my DNA and that of Miss Romanoff. One was from Captain Rogers. The last two, twins were created using Captain Rogers's and Sargent Barnes's DNA in an as of yet, unapproved and highly experimental process," This brought forth another burst of questions that he refused to respond to. Instead, while the reporters clamored on, he gestured to one of his staff to have the rest of the group join them.

The press went silent once more as the entirety of the Avengers filed onto the stage, along with a larger than expected group of children, Clint's wife, and Bucky, "I would like to present to the public for the first time, Rebecca Barnes, Natalia Stark, Sarah Barnes, George Barnes, and Joseph Barnes. Also, Clint Barton, aka Hawkeye, is presenting his own family for the first time." Tony stepped away from the mic and allowed Clint to step up to it.

"Hello, everyone. Unlike the others, I am not in the slightest bit surprised by my own kids. I actually got to participate in their creation," Clint's joke got a few laughs. "Anyways, this is my wife Laura, our son Cooper, daughter Lila and the baby of the family Nathanial and yes, he was named after Natasha."

That earned him another burst of laughter. Tony had already collected Natalia from Natasha and brought the now shy behaving girl to the front of the group, "You can all start with the questions now. We only ask that you direct the questions at the adults and not the kids."

The first few questions were simple, how old they were, their birthdays, and if they were all healthy, the fourth question got stunned silence after it, "Mr. Rogers! Why are all of your children carrying the Barnes name?" The reporter in question was one that Tony actually recognized, she was the blonde Vanity Fair reporter who always seemed to know the most shocking questions to ask.

Steve stepped up to the mic and adjusted it with the hand not holding George, "That would be because Bucky and I are getting married. We thought it would be simpler for all our kids to have the same last name."

Natasha had her head in her hands as she tried to hide her laughter over the uproar this caused. It only quieted when Steve pointed to another reporter, "You're _marrying_ Bucky Barnes? Does this mean that you're _gay?_ " The man asked he seemed to think this was the biggest new story in the history of news.

"I believe a more accurate term would be Bisexual but yes, as is Bucky," Steve answered straight forward once again.

"How long have you and Sargent Barnes been in a relationship?" The next reporter asked.

"Well, I think our first kiss was when I was seventeen so I want to say, if you included the time we were forced to be separate due to various reasons, about 80 years or so. I mean, even with the brain washing Bucky went through and my being in ice we didn't stop loving each other so I'd say that is the best estimate I can give," Steve was forced to stop as Bucky pushed him away from the mic.

"It will be 79 years on Steve's next birthday. It was my birthday present to him," Bucky interjected with a wink. "Not that anyone but us knew, what with the times being what they were."

"Oh, please, my dad and Aunt Peggy used to tell me you two were a greater love story than Romeo and Juliet!" Tony shot at them from behind.

Once more the press went crazy. The next question was directed at Tony. Once more it was Christine Everhart, Tony's mind supplied as she spoke, "Are you saying that Howard Stark and Peggy Carter were aware that Captain America was gay and didn't reveal it to anyone?"

"Actually, from what I recall, the Howling Commandos knew as well. Dad and Aunt Peggy even thought that Col. Chester Phillips suspected it too but didn't call them out on it. It would have been too big a scandal and one they really couldn't afford in the middle of WWII," Tony answered honestly.

"Is that why you put the plane in the ice, Captain Rogers? Because you believed your lover was dead?" Everhart got out before the noise could escalate again.

"Well, I wouldn't say that it was my reason for running the Hydra plane into the ground. That plane was directed at taking out millions of lives when I put it into the Arctic. I will admit though that it made death a little less frightening to know, or at least believe, that Bucky was waiting on the other side," Steve said this last part hesitantly.

"If I recall correctly, it was always touted that you were a devout Catholic, Captain Rogers. Do you mean to say that you don't think homosexuality is a sin?" Another reporter cut in before Everhart could ask another question.

"Well, believe it or not, not all or even most bibles actually state that it is. If you read the Greek Orthodox one, which I did since Bucky's family had one, it never said anything against being gay, it did have a passage that said 'man shalt not lie with boy as he lies with woman' which is more of a no pedophilia statement than a no homosexuality statement. Actually, many scholars today believe that since the original passage was written in Greek that it was a mistranslation that ended up being given far too much weight," Steve couldn't keep a smirk off his face. "However, I think we are getting a little off topic. This press conference isn't about religious views."

This redirected the questions back to the children, even though a few teetered on the edge of ridiculous, like a question about what faith the children would be raised in. By the time the press conference ended, Steve had a headache, Bucky wanted to punch someone and Tony was wishing that he hadn't given up drinking so quickly. He didn't voice this thought to anyone though, because he hated himself for it almost immediately and if he hated himself for it, everyone else would too. The last question was one that Tony didn't want to answer but it had to be done.

"Mr. Stark, will Miss Potts be involved in the raising of your daughter?" It was a man from CNN asking and Tony resisted the urge to storm out.

"No, she will not. Miss Potts and I terminated our relationship well prior to the events of the last few days. She was informed, as my friend, about my daughter but expressed no interest in being involved in any aspect of Natalia's upbringing. And since you brought her up, you should also know that Miss Potts has also resigned from her post as CEO of Stark Industries for personal reasons. I will once again be the CEO and President of Stark Industries. Thank you for your time. No more questions," Tony finished and turned away with Natalia being held just slightly tighter than necessary in an effort to gain comfort from the small girl.

Everyone else followed swiftly. The press still attempted to get a few more answers but they were ignored in favor of retreating back up to the sanctuary that the Tower had become for them all. No one scolded Tony for his little outburst at the end considering what had brought it about. They didn't even get a chance. The genius didn't wait for them, instead taking one of the two elevators available for himself and Natalia. Once everyone else piled onto the second elevator, Natasha pushed the button for the shared floor.

"Well that went well for the most part. The news tonight and tomorrow should be interesting," Clint commented as they piled out at their destination.

"Sure," Natasha stated non-committal in her response. "FRIDAY, where did Tony take Natalia?"

"The boss took his daughter to the lab. I believe he is working on her miniaturized car now," FRIDAY responded with ease.

"Alright, thank you. Please, remind him to come up at noon for lunch," Natasha requested before letting it go. No one else commented on Tony's behavior or voiced concern over it. They knew full well that the man wouldn't drink himself into oblivion so they assumed that his attaching so firmly to Natalia was an attempt to cope with the new dynamics of his life.

"Well, it will be interesting how the press deal with this. I hope that I am up to handling the reactions," Laura commented as she pulled out the new Stark Phone Tony had given her that morning for her new job as one of his PA's. Steve pulled his out a minute later as well. They had both received texts from the PR department at the same time about a flood of private interview requests. "Steve, how should we handle this?"

"Give them a couple of days to get all the requests out and sort through them to figure out who has the best reputations for being honest and view us in a positive light I would say. Then we pick out a few based on topics we are willing to discuss," Steve suggested with a shrug as he retrieved a bottle for George from Helen and popped the nipple into the boy's mouth.

"Sounds like a plan," Laura nodded in agreement.


	13. Chapter 13

**This is a fan made story. I don't own the rights to Captain America, any of its characters or any characters within the MCU… Much to my disappointment. This will have some violent content and possible triggers. Steve/Bucky Established Relationship. Constructive criticism is welcome but if you don't like it simply because you don't like the line of thinking, please don't attack me for it.**

Chapter 13: Darker Discussions

Tony and Natalia didn't rejoin the group for most of the rest of the day. In the end, Steve brought food down for the two. FRIDAY was talking the little red-head through how to assemble a miniature transmission to go with the mini engine of her toy car. Tony was working through the kinks in a schematic for the Iron Kid suit as it was labeled above the actual design. Natalia willingly ate but Tony barely acknowledge Steve before he left. FRIDAY was requested to keep an eye on them both but they all figured that Tony needed to work out the emotions in his own way.

Steve and Laura had already found themselves buried neck deep in work for their new jobs as Tony's PAs. The amount of paperwork that needed Tony's 'approval', aka their own, before it could occur was rather astounding but fortunately the pair quickly found a rhythm for figuring out who should deal with what issues and approve them and which needed Tony's approval. Those were sent to Tony via FRIDAY. Bucky spent a small amount of time looking over Steve's shoulder while he reviewed shares numbers and then went over to Bruce and Helen who were reviewing suggested and in progress research projects. Some of the ideas presented were beyond baffling to Bucky, like a new advanced holographic portable computer system. Bucky eventually shrugged and talked Natasha into walking him through how to work a Stark Tablet before beginning to study up on the history that his missed, even though he had been a part of writing some of it.

Eventually, Bucky collected Rebecca and began making supper with the girl, walking her through another simple recipe from Sarah Rogers's cook book. When he finished, Steve and Laura looked like they had headaches building. Surprisingly, Helen and Bruce didn't seem too stressed at all, despite having to filter through masses of technical jargon.

"You all right Steve?" Natasha asked as she set the table with Rebecca's help.

"Sure, Tony won't be when Laura and I tell him what we found when we got to work though," Steve groaned as Bucky placed a healthy serving of Shepard's Pie in front of him. A small pie had been made for Bruce with tofu rather than beef when Bruce had explained that he didn't eat meat.

"Why? What was wrong?" Helen asked, the question seconded by Maria quickly.

"Pepper hasn't actually been doing her job for a month now. The sheer volume is beyond ridiculous. How she got way without anyone noticing is beyond my comprehension. There must have been neglect on several levels for her to have managed it," Laura growled out. "That bi-… never mind what she is… is lucky she quit because if she hadn't, Tony would have fired her spectacularly once he realized what she was doing. It is like she was attempting to run Stark Industries into the ground. He might want to sue her, actually."

"Yeah, the stocks were only just starting to dip though, so if we can get it sorted out quickly enough, people might think that it was just a result of the power transitioning from Potts back to Tony. Natasha, I hate to say it but we will probably need your help sorting this all out. You did say that you acted as Tony's PA before," Steve remarked as he began to eat.

"Sure. My daughter's inheritance is at stake. I might only be able to really organize stuff but that will likely help a lot I suspect," Natasha agreed readily.

"Lucky you, I get to spend tomorrow sorting through the massive influx of applications for the tutor and nanny positions available. The preliminary background checks are going to be a mess. Anyone want to volunteer to help?" Maria asked between bites. She had spent the day supervising the packing of the Barton Farm and instruct personnel in the methods of deactivation and removal of the traps on the farm all day.

"I guess I could, not much else I have to do right now anyways," Clint offered.

"Pietro and I can help too. We had a lot of contact with various Hydra agents while they were experimenting on us. We can point out any that we recognize, plus when you get to the interview stage, I can use my mind reading to see if they are nefarious or incompetent," Wanda offered.

"Yes, to all that. And Steve, Laura, how bad is the damage?" Tony asked, drawing everyone's attention to him as he stood nearby with Natalia in his arms.

"It's mostly important stuff over the past month that really should have sent up red flags on several levels of your organization Tony. Things like ignoring new, innovative projects that would have likely made you gleeful at the idea of commercialization of. One was paperwork for the commercialized of your holographic computer system that you had expressed a desire to do last month. Another was the specifics of the grant program you wanted to go forward," Steve listed a few examples, but he wasn't certain how Tony was going to react.

Tony nodded slowly and settled Natalia into her high chair, "Right, so were most of it things that I expressed a desire to have go forward as the President of the company?"

Steve sighed before nodding, "Yeah, it's like if you came up with the idea, she ignored it."

"Well, Laura was right about one thing, she's lucky she quit before I could fire her. Would the board have noticed?" Tony glanced between the two before sitting in the empty seat left for him and serving himself food.

"The next board meeting is next week, it would have likely been noticed then, when they did a review of her management. It's likely that she was going to resign before then either way and hope to make a clean break," Laura remarked. "We've been sorting through the files today. If you have time you should send all the approvals for the patent requests in tomorrow. If she had access to patents, then it is likely that she could have taken the schematics with her and try to sell them to the highest bidder."

"That does explain a few anomalies we were finding with R&D too. We had a bunch of emails requesting an update of their patent requests or idea approvals," Bruce sighed.

"Alright. Steve, Laura send me those files so that I can review them tonight and they can get sent to the patent office tomorrow. Natasha, thank you for agreeing to help. I hope that your experience in espionage can be used to prevent this from becoming a downward spiral due to corporate espionage. Bruce, have FRIDAY assess the emails and compare the information there with the patent requests we have waiting. Hopefully, we'll be able to give some people some answers before the Board of Directors meeting next week," Tony was serious as he spoke. He ate quickly to finish when Steve did and then dragged the super soldier off to get the files sent over to him.

"Ok, sober Tony is unnerving. I was expecting an outburst and instead he was all business like. He didn't even give the press much of a rise when he was provoked this morning," Clint remarked one the billionaire had left.

"He might just be burying himself in work to avoid the fact that Pepper had no real intention of getting back together with him, even as she tried to manipulate him, meaning that she was only trying to hurt him as much as possible. It is a ridiculous and petty revenge. It also makes me wonder about how much the relationship was about being with Tony and how much was about his money," Natasha growled the last bit. All the adults grew a little darker in expression at the thought. The idea of Pepper being a gold digger was shocking but in hind sight not as shocking as it should have been.

"Well, we know where she stands now. I am going to have a little chat with the head of building security. Her behavior means that we don't want her to have any access to Stark Tower or Stark Industries," Laura looked at the others with a hard expression. With this, she stood and headed for the elevators.

"I'll contact Happy. He likely saw the press conference but I want him to know Ms. Potts's security clearance is completely revoked from all Stark Industries properties and affiliates. I will go into detail if I have too," Natasha nodded towards the others. "Can you watch Natalia for a while?"

"Yeah, sure. Take however much time you need," Bruce nodded and Bucky seconded it. Wanda shrugged and collected Natalia from her high chair as she finished eating.

Once she saw the situation well in hand, she also exited to get into contact with the head of security for the West Coast offices of Stark Industries. He would likely be confused but Tony was his friend and employer, not Pepper. However, Happy liked Potts and the news of such a deep betrayal would likely hurt him. Thus, it was best coming from someone that the man knew. Natasha collected her tablet and sent an immediate video call to Happy.

He answered almost immediately, clearly agitated, "Natasha, what the hell is going on?! Tony and Pepper _broke up? And he fired Pepper?_ " His voice was stunned.

"Are you sitting down, Happy?" Natasha asked the long-time bodyguard.

"Yes, _what_ is going on?" Happy urged.

"Tony and Pepper were already taking a break before this weekend. When Tony found out that he had a daughter, he called Pepper here to tell her in person about it. Pepper's reaction was… nasty is the best word for it. She told Tony he would be a horrible parent, that she never wanted kids and that even if he insisted on kids that it would only have been one with lots of delegated child care. Tony was reasonably pissed since he didn't want Natalia to grow up like he had. He told her that since she didn't want kids he couldn't be with her," Natasha began before going over the rest of the encounter and the discoveries from the day. Happy looked like he was ready to lose it.

"She came here an hour ago, claiming that you and Tony were fooling around behind her back and that was how Natalia was born. Obviously, it would have been impossible to hide something like that though. She wanted to be allowed into the building but I told her that since she wasn't a Stark Industries employee she couldn't go anywhere without an escort. I took her up to her office, watched her clear out her stuff and refused her access to her computer. She pitched a fit over it but I wasn't going to risk it. Everything about her behavior was completely off. Almost maniac really when I escorted her off the premises. It's almost like it wasn't really Pepper, just someone who looked like her," Happy looked deflated once he finished his rant.

"You made the right choice Happy. Under no circumstances is she to be allowed back into any Stark Industries building. If she attempts to enter one, she is to be detained until a police escort can be arranged. Make sure that the entire security staff knows that. Tony is the CEO and President again and Steve and Laura Barton, Clint's wife, are his PAs," Natasha finished.

"I understand. I will pass it along to everyone, thanks for the full update. Also, congratulations on becoming a mom. I hope you are up to the challenge of co-parenting with Tony," Happy added with a weak smile.

"Co-parenting? Please, Tony's already hogging Natalia. He's kept her in his lab with him for most of the day, teaching her how to build a transmission, I think," Natasha smiled for real at that.

"I thought she was three?" Happy looked confused.

"She has a brain bigger than her father's," Natasha shrugged before waving good-bye and ending the face-time.

When she returned to the shared floor, it was to find a group of fascinated children watching a dinosaur documentary. Clint and Bruce were dealing with the dishes and Wanda and Pietro were equally absorbed with the documentary playing. Natasha shrugged and picked up her daughter to clean her up. When Natalia protested, Natasha promised she could continue to watch it when she joined her daddy once she was cleaned up. Natalia seemed to accept this and quieted.

Eventually, Steve and Bucky talked their girls into going to bed as well. Steve barely laid his own head down before falling asleep that night, Bucky snuggled in close and followed suit. However, after a few hours of sleep, Bucky shot up in the bed, having been woken from a horrifying nightmare. Up until now, Wanda's tampering with his mind had only sorted out the memories he had regained beforehand, making it more coherent. This was a new memory though, and one that was disturbing in the extreme. Wanda's work meant that he knew the date, time and location of the mission, one that required him to kill a couple in a car while making it appear to be an accident.

Bucky glanced at Steve and a wave of relief flooded him as he noticed that he was still asleep, exhausted from a day of working on a computer, ironically enough. Bucky carefully slipped out of the bed and went to check on the children, all of whom were also sleeping soundly. Once he was reassured, he found his tablet and pulled up a search program that Tony his AI set up for him earlier that day. It was so that any new memories could be researched based on what he knew. Tony had explained that it was to account for all the people that Hydra had harmed. He hesitated for a moment before punching in the date, December 16, 1991 and the location along with the words couple and accident.

A few articles immediately popped up. The first read, 'Howard and Maria Stark Dead in Car Accident'. The second read, 'Head of Stark Industries, Wife Dead in Tragic Accident'. Both articles gave sparse details, however they matched with what he knew of the event. It didn't take a genius to figure out at this point that he had killed Tony's parents. Bucky hesitated for a minute and looked into each of the bedrooms again to ensure that everyone was still asleep before clutching the tablet close and going to the elevator. Once he entered and the doors closed he spoke, "FRIDAY, is Stark awake?"

"Yes, he is currently in his lab working on the frame of Miss Stark's car. Miss Stark is napping," FRIDAY answered immediately.

Bucky paused a moment before speaking again, "Take me to his lab, please." The AI confirmed his request and the elevator moved. He paced in the elevator as it moved down the levels until it reached the floor with Tony's lab. When the door opened, Bucky was out of the elevator and headed directly for the man with a torch in hand and welding mask on his head. He was, indeed, working on the frame of Natalia's tiny car.

Bucky cleared his throat once he was a good five feet from Tony to alert him of his presence, startling the man. Tony quickly realized that Bucky wasn't there for a visit though, based on the tablet clutched in his hand. The blow torch was turned off and the welding mask was taken off.

"What can I do for you? That program I had FRIDAY make working alright?" Tony asked, as he settled into a chair gesturing for Bucky to take the one opposite him, having noticed the tablet in Bucky's hand.

"It works fine. I'm just not sure you're going to like what my first search pulled up," Bucky sighed. He hesitated before handing over the tablet, figuring that Tony deserved to know.

Before Tony took it, he rolled his eyes, "Please, Wanda explained to me what kinds of things they did to you. I'm not going to blame you for whatever they made your mind controlled body do." With that, he took the tablet and immediately froze. He stayed that way for a few minutes before setting the tablet aside and walking across the room and into a separate room.

Once he was in there, he let out his frustration by trashing it before coming out to find a concerned Bucky and a confused and now awake Natalia. The little girl immediately jumped into her father's arms and latched onto him, having a strangely calming effect on the man. Tony hugged Natalia and sat across from Bucky, "So Hydra killed my parents. I'm really wishing I hadn't showed Steve where all the alcohol was or gave FRIDAY all those orders right about now, but it's probably for the best that I did. I would probably drink myself into a coma otherwise."

Bucky looked at Tony in surprise, "You're taking this a lot better than I expected. I mean, I killed your parents." He finally blurted out.

"No. Hydra killed my parents. Like I said before. Wanda explained to me exactly what they did to your head. She said that a lesser man would have become a vegetable with the amount that they scrambled your brain. No one can blame you for what they made you do. It's like blaming a gun for getting fired. It was man who made the gun and he pointed the gun and fired it. The gun doesn't actually get a say in the matter. It is just a tool, a weapon. That is what you were for Hydra. You're trying to make it right now, right?" Tony looked at Bucky expectantly.

"Yeah, I am. Is there anything I can do now?" Bucky asked after a pause.

"Do you know who gave the orders or why?" Tony asked after a minute.

"The why was that they wanted a brief case that Howard had with him. It held an attempt at a recreation of Erskine's serum. I don't know exactly who called the shots though. They only called themselves my handlers and I wasn't exactly allowed to ask questions. I do remember where they kept me though," Bucky added as an afterthought. He immediately punched in coordinates on the tablet before handing it back to Tony.

Tony nodded and, little girl attached to him and all, moved over to a computer that he used to pull up a satellite image, "Snow covered mountain. It doesn't look like anything is there. You sure it's there?"

"It's designed to be concealed from satellites. You can't see it but there is a door right about here. If they haven't changed the codes, I can probably get us in," Bucky offered after pointing to roughly where the door should be located in the side of the mountain.

"Alright, well, the Hydra base will likely still be there tomorrow. You should probably get back to Mrs. Barnes and get what sleep you can, what with the boys waking frequently and all. Super soldier doesn't mean you don't need sleep. I think I will get some shuteye myself. I'm waiting for the rest of the parts I need for what I'm working on anyways," Tony stated before practically forcing Bucky out of the lab.

Bucky sighed, figuring the man probably needed time to fully process all the information and got back into the elevator. He went back up his floor. Steve was wake, feeding George when Bucky arrived and the look of relief on his face spoke volumes.

"Sorry for going missing. I had to talk to Tony about something," Bucky offered lamely as he collected Joseph because he had started to cry as well.

"Yeah, FRIDAY told me. Everything ok?" Steve asked softly.

"I killed Tony's parents," Bucky answered in barely a whisper. "I figured that wasn't something that should be hidden from him."

Steve adjusted George to burp him while he got in close to Bucky who had begun to feed Joseph, "Buck, that wasn't you. That was Hydra. You had no control over your actions. To Hydra, you were just a weapon being pointed in a direction."

Bucky smiled weakly as he looked down at Joseph, "Tony said the same thing. He asked if I knew who called the shots but I don't remember names. I did tell him where they had me working out of though. He said that we would deal with it in the morning."

"He's right. Also, I think I like Sober Tony a bit more than alcoholic Tony. He is much more rational now. Though that could be Natalia. I guess as long as he stays away from the booze we might never know," Steve shrugged as George dropped off to sleep and Bucky switched Joseph to his shoulder to burp.

"He definitely took it better than expected," Bucky commented.

"Good to hear. I guess being a parent has done what nothing else could. Made Tony behave like an adult," Steve smiled as he put George back in his crib. "I guess miracles do happen after all."

"Says the guy who used to struggle to breath but is now a man who is over one hundred but doesn't look a day over thirty," Bucky chuckled, feeling a little more at ease now, settling Joseph next to his brother.

"Hello, pot, meet kettle," Steve teased as he took Bucky's hand and dragged him back to bed for some well deserved rest.


	14. Chapter 14

**This is a fan made story. I don't own the rights to Captain America, any of its characters or any characters within the MCU… Much to my disappointment. This will have some violent content and possible triggers. Steve/Bucky Established Relationship. Constructive criticism is welcome but if you don't like it simply because you don't like the line of thinking, please don't attack me for it.**

 **Author's Note: Apologies again for the delay. I have been suffering from writer's block and weather chaos.**

Chapter 14: Siberia

The next morning, Tony woke the occupants of the tower at just after six in the morning, calling a meeting. He had spent the remainder of the night, after Bucky's visit, hacking satellites to look up the coordinates of the base that Bucky had listed as his base of operation in 1991 in hopes of finding more than what the initial one had shown. It was listed as longitude and latitude so the location was easy to pin point. Tony completely ignored the glares he got from most of those who were woken at this ungodly hour. Hill in particular was even less impressed when she was informed that she needed to immediately assemble a security team to aid Bucky in taking and cleaning out the base.

"Wait… how did you even find out this place exists?" Hill finally asked as Tony rambled on about the importance of gathering the entire archive.

"Bucky remembered it as one of the places that they had him work out of. He gave me the coordinates last night after he remembered them. Unfortunately, he didn't remember this before the press conference because what remains of Hydra now knows he is regaining his memories so they might move to empty the place fast," Tony pointed at satellite images. "So far there hasn't been any recent activity around the area which means at worst it is abandoned and already empty and at best, it is dormant and Hydra is going to move fast to empty it. Bucky anything to add?"

"Yeah. While I was there, they got a hold of an attempt of replicating Erskine's formula. It wasn't perfect, or at least I think it wasn't. They gave it to their five best operatives. They turned unstable mentally. Only an extremely skilled physiatrist could control them with trigger words after that. Mostly they, like myself, were kept in cryostasis until they were needed. I only worked with them in terms of training. If you find them in cryo pods, the best bet for dealing with them for now would to keep them in there until it's decided what to do with them," Bucky was blunt.

"Barnes, I want you leading on this one. We know that, thanks to Wanda, trigger words are no longer a risk and you actually know the layout of the place. Hill, pick and assemble the team quickly. Clint, if you don't mind, I know you are still settling in but could you go be a third for the mission? I want you guys there to empty the place asap. We have no idea what we will find so take about thirty guys," Tony stated.

"So, that's it? Why didn't you just wake Bucky, Hill and Clint if they were the only ones you needed to run this mission?" Natasha asked.

"Because the rest of you deserved to know what was going on. We're a team. No secrets… Which is why I should probably tell you the serum that Bucky mentioned earlier was in the car my parents were driving the night they died. Hydra killed my parents. Bucky remembered it and came directly to me. That says a lot to me, it speaks of trust," Tony answered bluntly.

"Tony… how are you not experiencing Alcohol Withdrawal yet? It has been two days since you had your last drink. Honestly, you shouldn't be this rational right now," Helen Cho suddenly asked.

"That? Not really sure to be honest. I think it just hasn't started yet. Some people take a while for it to set in. It's why I am trying to get as much done now as I can before it does set in. It will probably take me out of action for a few weeks once it does," Tony shrugged and focused back on the rest of the group.

"So, Steve, Laura, I went through those files you gave me last night and did the approvals and rejections that were needed. I need you to send them out and sort through the rest of the mess that Miss Potts left us to deal with. Wanda, Pietro, would you two get started on the basics of the nanny and tutor applications? I know Hill was supposed to start on that today but she going to be busy on that mission. Just go through them all and pick out any of the Hydra that you know and those who are overwhelmingly under qualified and send the information for the rest to Happy so that he can arrange for background checks. Bruce, I sent all the patent request approvals to you. I suggest we get those in as soon a as the patent office opens today. I already sent messages to our best patent lawyers so they will be meeting you there. Is there anything I'm missing?" Tony asked looking around.

"Did you get any sleep last night?" Cho asked calmly.

"No. Not that I really tried. I am feeling a little wired and I haven't had coffee for hours," Tony answered with blunt honesty.

Helen got up and pulled a flash light out of her pocket and checked his eyes before sighing, "I take it back. You are going through withdrawal. Insomnia and jitters are probably just the first symptoms. I'm going to get you a mild sedative so you can sleep for a few hours at least. Elsewise, you're going to hurt yourself by pushing too hard. I am also going to have FRIDAY monitor your vitals. FRIDAY, anything from a temperature spike to irritability is to be reported to me immediately. You have been an alcoholic for a long time Tony. We want to make sure that it isn't going to kill you coming off it. If you feel off at all just have FRIDAY get me immediately. Consider yourself under medical observation."

Tony nodded slowly in understanding before Cho backed off, "I am going to go get that sedative. You lay down on one of those couches. Any work you do can be done on this floor, if you go down to the labs, bring someone with you. A human can pick up on things a computer program might miss."

Once Helen left, Steve stared at Tony until he reluctantly obeyed Cho's order to lay down on a couch. Once he did Steve went over to the kitchen and started making breakfast while Hill, Clint and Bucky went to prep for their mission. He didn't like not going with them but a part of him realized Tony's logic. They had four kids, both of them going could increase the odds of making four orphans. He was finishing making the food when FRIDAY announced that the children were awake. He left the last bit to Bruce and talked Wanda and Pietro into collecting his kids with him. Natalia was already on the common floor, having been awake through the entire thing.

When they returned to the common floor with the children, it was to see Hill, Clint and Bucky eating quickly while in uniform. Hill stated that their team for the mission was already on the way. Rebecca had a sudden look of panic when she realized Bucky was going somewhere without her.

"Daddy? Where're you going?" She asked as she began hyper ventilating.

Bucky immediately set aside his food and went to her, "Rebecca, it's ok. I have to deal with a Hydra base, but I _will_ come back. I promise. Your Papa is going to stay right here though. He is going to be here the whole time I am gone, okay? You are going to be perfectly safe. Do you understand?"

Rebecca attempted to control her breathing while he spoke and held her. She finally calmed after a few minutes, "Okay. You promised so I believe you, Daddy. Don't get hurt."

"I will do my best, kid. Hey, this place is likely completely empty and I can get home quickly but it may be a few days. I need you to promise me that you will be good for Papa. He's going to need help with George and Joseph," Bucky smiled at her as she nodded, a determined look on her face. "Good."

He kissed her forehead before doing the same with Sarah and the boys. During this distraction, Helen had managed to sneak by the group unnoticed and give Tony the sedative without any fuss. Clint was less stressed with his departure since his kids wouldn't get up until they were dragged from bed by their mother and they were used to his coming and going. As the rest settled down for breakfast and another day of running a multi-billion dollar tech organization, Hill, Clint and Bucky headed for the QuinJet hanger where most of their team was already assembled.

Minutes after that, they had them split into five different QuinJets and were taking off for the other side of the world. Everyone settled in for the flight quickly and most of those who were rushed out of their homes so abruptly in the early morning were munching on what quick food they could grab on their way to Avengers Tower and talking quietly amongst themselves. This lasted most of the way until they were a half hour out from the base in Siberia.

"All right everyone, get your coms synced," Clint ordered from his seat as a pilot of one of the QuinJets. "Hill and Bucky are about to go over the briefing. Channel four please."

Once everyone was synced and listening, Hill began immediately, "Alright. Here is the gist of the mission. The base we are heading for is believed to be either abandoned or dormant, though we are hoping it is dormant. It is a simple retrieval mission but there are a few security concerns. We are gathering anything Hydra might have left here. Hopefully, if it is dormant, there will be a lot of intel to be gathered from it. Our last known operational time period for this base was in the nineties so we are looking at what is likely a lot of paper and VHS level of intel. Sargent Barnes is familiar with the base and he will be leading the mission."

"Alright, I'm Sargent Barnes, you can call me Bucky though. This base was used primarily for undercover ops and as Hill said, it probably hasn't been operational since the turn of the century. That being said, there are still potential traps and dangers. Scan the doorways before you enter a room. Don't start anything up without my explicit direction and if you find people in cryostasis, do not, I repeat _DO NOT_ let them out. If Hydra kept them in cryostasis it is because they were too dangerous to allow any unsupervised conditions. If Hydra thought they were dangerous, it is likely they were and we may or may not know why that is. We will transport them back as is in cryostasis. Is that clear?" Bucky was in full military mode which seemed to make the team comfortable with him. A chorus of confirmations later Bucky continued. "For the most part, our best case scenario is a lot of boxes and perhaps a few people in cryo, worst case scenario, an empty base filled with traps."

As he finished the first QuinJet landed followed by the others. Fortunately, there was plenty of space around the entrance of the base as Bucky lead the way to the hidden door in the side of the mountain and used his metal hand to break the ice off the keypad. The ice was actually a relief for him because it meant, due to its thickness, that no one had been there in a while. He posted a few sentries at the entrance before leading the rest of the team into the base.

Flash lights flicked on around him and began moving around the dust coated entrance hall looking for any signs of traps or activity. Once again, the thick layers of dust spoke of a long period of activity. Bucky led them through the dark, windowless halls of the base. Since it was built into the mountain it had been a rather simplistic design. Clint bit back a comment about how he didn't think they were going to find anything as Bucky reached a second door and punched in another code. After a minute a hiss was heard and a gust of air even more stale than what they had been breathing already passed them. The room they entered was lit only by the glow of five cryostasis pods which held five people within it.

"Looks like we got the right place," Clint stated obviously as he followed Bucky over to a control panel. "Any ideas of how to transport them?"

"Each of the pods have independent power sources that keep them operational during transport. We just need to detach the cables from this control panel to the pods and unlatch the pods from the floor, lower them on their backs and wheel them out. It was designed for easy transport. It means that they don't have to wake them until the last minute. They were actually considered more dangerous than I was," Bucky answered as he looked at the latest read outs for the pods. "Looks like they haven't been woken for about fifteen years."

"That is a _long time_ to sleep," Hill stated. "You want to show the guys how to detach them so we can get them loaded onto the QuinJets?"

Bucky nodded and pressed the buttons for transportation mode for each of the pods before turning off the control panel. He then detached to cables from the side of the panel itself and directed the few personnel that had been observing him and not examining the room to coil them up towards the pods. He then walked over to a pod while Hill called a few more people over to them. Bucky then talked them through unlatching the pods to the ground and lowering it so that they didn't damage the pod. Once that group got to work on the process for the pods, Bucky gathered up the rest and brought them even deeper into the base. They checked the rooms along the way but most were just bedrooms or empty offices. They didn't find anything else until they reached the archives.

They checked the room for traps before those present were ordered to start carrying the boxes out. Hill gathered up a few smaller boxes before leading them out. The rest of the day was probably what Hill would consider one of the most boring missions she had even participated in. Hydra had apparently felt the base so well hidden and Bucky so unlikely to remember it that they had just left the place without much of any protection. The most interesting part of her morning involved the moment when they had to improvise a wooden walkway to the QuinJets for the cryostasis pods when they realized they wouldn't be able to roll them through the snow. They did find a memory wiping machine that also needed to be loaded in.

Each QuinJet got a pod and then was loaded with boxes of files until there was barely enough room for the team members. They barely managed to squeeze everyone back into the QuinJets just before night fall and the heavily laden QuinJets moved a bit slower on the way back, none of them designed as cargo planes.

By the time they reached Avenger's Tower it was well past midnight because they had to stop and refuel in Germany which with so many QuinJets took a long time. When they did get back, Hill sent the team home informing them that someone else could unload the QuinJets in the morning. Tony was awake and Natalia was with him as Clint, Hill and Bucky got to the common floor of the tower.

"How did it go?" Tony asked without looking up. He sat on the couch surrounded by tablets. Natalia was watching a documentary on the Jurassic period of earth with rapt attention.

"Well, whether it was a gold mine remains to be seen but Hydra is now down five more enhanced assets and we have the entire archives from the base. We need to decide what happens to the five in those pods though," Hill stated as she slumped down in a chair.

"So, it was a success. Good. Ross is coming by tomorrow so, he can have some analysts come by for the files. He contacted me about wanting to talk about something, he didn't say what though, so I imagine if it is not so fun we at least have this to butter him up with," Tony stated before leaning back on the couch. "FRIDAY, can you lower the lights to forty percent. They're giving me a headache."

"Of course, boss," FRIDAY responded as the lights lowered a bit more than they already had been.

"Withdrawal?" Clint asked.

"Yeah. I'll deal though. I refuse to be my father. Even if it isn't his drinking that killed my mother, it still did a number on his relationship with me and I don't want Natalia to face that," Tony shifted before returning to one of the tablets.

"You're doing the right thing Tony. I know it sucks but it is the right choice," Clint offered in support.

"I know that. Just do me a favor and keep reminding me because this does suck," Tony sighed as he put down the tablet after an alarm on his watch went off. He then reached to a pill bottle on a table beside the couch and a cup of what looked like tea. "Anti-nausea medication. Cho gave it to me after I threw up earlier. It does help a bit. The tea is from Bruce. It's supposed to help me relax a little but it hasn't done much more than slow the tremors."

"You going to try to sleep?" Hill asked, concern slightly lacing her voice.

"I'm not sure I can right now. Though if I don't, I'm sure Cho will just sedate me again in the morning so I can get a few hours," Tony stated after returning the pills to the table along with the tea.

"Alright. Well, we are exhausted so, we'll see you in the morning. If you wake me at six again tomorrow, I will have your head," Hill stated before she left. Clint nodded and seconded the sentiment.

Bucky didn't say anything, just going back to his floor. It was quiet as he stepped off the elevator and he took silent steps to first the girls' room and stuck his head in. The room was empty causing him to frown. He checked the boys' room next and found them sleeping soundly. He placed a kiss on each of them gently before going to his own room. His eyes were well adjusted to the dark now and he smiled softly at the sight that greeted him. Steve was being crowded off the large bed by Rebecca and Sarah sprawling out as much as possible. He held back a chuckle as he stripped off his dust coated uniform and slipped on a set of pj bottoms and a t-shirt.

He gently lifted-up the blankets and carefully rearranged the girls to make space for himself before climbing into the bed. Once he was settled on his side, Sarah immediately latched onto him in her sleep like an octopus. Bucky mentally pushed away the thoughts of his day and allowed the comfort of his daughter's clinging to lull him to sleep, knowing full well it wouldn't be more than a few hours before he was woken by the boys' needs.


	15. Chapter 15

**This is a fan made story. I don't own the rights to Captain America, any of its characters or any characters within the MCU… Much to my disappointment. This will have some violent content and possible triggers. Steve/Bucky Established Relationship. Constructive criticism is welcome but if you don't like it simply because you don't like the line of thinking, please don't attack me for it.**

Chapter 15: Chaos Ensues

Once everyone woke the next morning, there was a brief debate on what to do with the five bodies in cryostasis. It took a half hour to decide to simply turn them over to the government along with their backgrounds provided by Bucky. Secretary of Defense Ross was almost gleeful to receive the call from Steve and informed them that he would already coming personally for other reasons but he would be happy to oversee their transfer into federal custody. When he arrived, he was disappointed to learn just how insistent the entire group was on them staying in cryostasis.

"I'm sorry, we have the most powerful group of individuals on our planet in this hanger. Why is it such a bad idea to take them out? It is ten times easier to transport them out of the cryopods than it is inside of them," Ross stated with an annoyed tone.

"This building is also housing our eight children, in case you had forgotten. In addition to that, these are also all enhanced individuals whom, from all the paperwork we found and the personal experience of Sargent Barnes, are extremely mentally unstable and are prone to violence regardless of their own safety. If you want to take them to the Raft, lock them in little cells and then let them out of cryo, be our guest so long as you take the proper precautions, but under no circumstance are you doing it on my property," Tony stated bluntly to Ross. He was sweating a bit, now well into the withdrawal from alcohol and irritable as a result.

"What is wrong with you? You seem off? Are you doing drugs?" Ross asked suspiciously.

"No, you really think I would get into drugs now that I've got a kid? I quit drinking. It's called withdrawal, Captain Ahab. Also, don't even think about coming back here for Bruce, he is under control, he has the Hulk under control. Now get the damned human popsicles and get out of here," Tony snarled the last bit before spinning on his heel and leaving the hanger, Steve and Natasha behind.

"Sorry about that, he decided to go cold turkey so it is a bit rough on him right now. He is trying to be a better father than his dad was so he was probably a bit offended that you implied he was getting worse rather than better," Natasha stated diplomatically.

"I see. So, Stark is finally growing up. I have to admit, that press conference had me a bit baffled. Ms. Potts has always been the one to reign him in, we were a bit concerned since she is now out of the picture," Ross shrugged before gesturing to his men to start wheeling the cryopods over to the freight elevator. "So, Captain, it must be nice to have an old friend back. That was another surprise from the press conference that has us all in the Defense Department a bit concerned."

"Bucky has regained his memories and the brainwashing and mind-control have been removed from his brain by Wanda. He isn't a threat, only an asset. Furthermore, you can't blame a POW under mind-control for actions out of his control. The moment he started to regain his memory, he escaped from Hydra and made efforts to stay out of Hydra control. We will fight you if you try anything," Steve's response was swift and defensive. It was clear how Steve would react if Ross tried anything.

"Oh, I wasn't suggesting him being taken into custody or anything. We know that he is going to be under your watchful eye, that wasn't our concern. The mind-control was, but if you say it is gone, well, I will take your word for it. Miss Maximoff is a talented young lady, I am sure she did her best to ensure that he was free of it. You are correct that he can't be held accountable for his actions while under Hydra control as well. If you have a phycologist speak with him, just to ensure it for an assessment, we can go ahead and arrange for a full exoneration for the incidents Hydra used him in," Ross offered, well aware that he had little legal ground to stand on in gaining access to Barnes.

"He will be getting an exoneration with or without a phycologist visiting, I think. After all, we don't prosecute our POWs for being victims of War Crimes, last I checked," Steve stated ice in his voice now. Just as he did, the last of the cryopods were wheeled into the freight elevator. "I think you've got what you came for. We will pass on scanned copies of the files we recovered from the Hydra base."

"Of course, I appreciate you coming directly to us with these pod people," Ross nodded before walking to the freight elevator and signing the paperwork a lawyer held out for him to prove chain of custody for the five, frozen people.

"I don't like his behavior. He gave in way too easily. He has something up his sleeve," Natasha stated as they walked back to the private elevator for the Avengers. "He also didn't mention his original reason for coming."

"I agree. He didn't push nearly as hard as I would have expected. He didn't even bat an eyelash over Bruce being mentioned or our refusal of access to Bucky," Steve responded.

"I'll look into it. You have work to do stabilizing a company," Natasha stated as the elevator moved up to the common floor.

Once they reached it, they found Helen giving Tony a sedative to get him to settle down and Laura was already neck deep into dealing with the masses of paperwork. Steve joined her on the couch and picked up a couple of tablets to get to work with the finance side of the business. Hill, Wanda, Pietro and Clint were all going through the ever-growing pile of applications for tutor positions.

Wanda and Pietro were having a bit of a field day with the process. Each time they recognized one of the applicants as a Hydra member, they flagged it and put the file into a folder marked for later attention. Around noon, Natasha found what Ross was up to, a contact of hers informing her of a secret collaborating being written between several countries being called the 'Sokovia Accords'. Tony, having awoken from his nap, and Steve reviewed a rough copy of it and began discussing how to head off the problems it could cause them and the potential implications it could have towards their children. If Ross thought he would be able to slip it under their radars, he had another thing coming. Certain aspects made them extremely uncomfortable as it almost made them political pawns. Tony immediately started calling up senators and allies that he knew had pull with to keep things from spiraling beyond their control.

All this came to a standstill when in the middle of the afternoon, Happy called Tony and directed him to turn on the news. Tony turned on CNN and was greeted with a helicopter view of the building that Pepper lived in in a blazing fire. He blanched visibly and then asked Happy what he knew. In a way, he was grateful that he had be facetiming with senators and billionaires because it gave him a solid alibi along with the security footage that proved that he had been in Stark Tower.

Natasha, after finding what Ross up to, had switched her search over to finding out who exactly Dr. Amelia Jenkins was. She had been hacking into systems for a few hours before she focused on the Caltech where the doctor had gotten her doctorate at. It took her a while but she had found a picture of the class the Dr. Jenkins had been in and blanched when she saw it.

"Tony, you need to see this," Natasha called over to him.

"Not now, I am trying to get ahold of Pepper. Hopefully she isn't there right now," Tony responded distractedly, his cell held in hand as he listened to it go directly to voicemail for the third time in a row.

"I don't think you're going to reach her. In fact, I have a pretty good feeling that you haven't spoken to the real Pepper in a while," Natasha responded blandly as she picked up the laptop she had been working on and shoved it in his face. It took Tony a second to realize what he was seeing and then he lost all color in his face as well and pressed end call on his cell phone.

"What is it?" Bruce asked, going over to them and looking at what they were. "Tony, was Pepper adopted?"

"Yeah, closed adoption. God, I should have noticed. Pepper was always so supportive of my being on the Avengers, she hated my being put at risk but she understood and she never once said a damned thing about hating kids. How did I not notice? How long has that bitch been pretending to be Pep?" Tony sounded utterly heartbroken as he slumped into the couch behind him. Natalia immediately climbed into his lap and patted him on his head in an attempt to comfort her upset daddy. "I need to contact Happy."

Before he could, the building that Pepper had supposedly been living in finally had the fire put out and more firefighters went into the building. He called Happy and told him to put any investigators into immediate contact with him. He also had Natasha e-mail the photo of Dr. Jenkins to Happy so he could provide it to the investigators when they started, what Tony could only assume was the inevitable murder investigation of one Pepper Potts. Tony told Happy to provide full cooperation with the authorities. He also had FRIDAY pull up all video footage of the imposter or Pepper since the Ultron incident as he figured that was about when the changeover occurred and send them to Happy as well to hand over to the police.

No one felt like cooking that evening so food was ordered, Steve and Natasha taking care to ensure that there were at least some semi-healthy options for the children. Just after dinner, Happy called to inform Tony that a body had been found in Pepper's condo. He asked if he was up for a video call from the lead detective assigned to the case. He managed to choke out a yes before going to the screen intended for video calls.

Happy's face appeared as soon as he turned the screen on, along with a serious looking woman in her mid-forties, "Mr. Stark, thank you for making time for me. I'm Detective Smith. I know it is getting late over there in New York so I will try to keep this as brief as possible for now. Mr. Hogan has provided us with the information that you gave him. I must admit, it is nice to not have to go through a battalion of lawyers for basic information."

"Pepper was family, for the past few days I was having my doubts on that but I am both horrified and relieved to know I was wrong. Dr. Jenkins had me fooled and that is really saying something. Are you sure the body is Pepper?" Tony asked, Natasha, Steve and Laura herding the children out of the room to clean up for bed to avoid the kids from being exposed from even more trauma.

"Yes, our killer might be a doctor of Physics but a skilled arson she is not. Ms. Potts's body was stuffed into a freezer that did a good job of insulating it from the fire. Our arson investigators say that the fire was started in her condo too. Our coroner could only tell us that though the fire thawed her a little, based on her still being pretty solidly frozen, it is likely that she was in there for a while so you wouldn't have even been much of a suspect. Mr. Hogan says that the possible motive for Dr. Jenkins taking the place of Ms. Potts was sabotaging your company. Do you know why she would want to do that?" Smith asked.

"The obvious answer? Stark Industries is a large source of income for me. I privately fund a global peacekeeping initiative in the Avengers. Dr. Jenkins was clearly a loyal Hydra operative. Take down Stark Industries and she could have crippled the Avengers. That would have been a major blow for Hydra. We have been systematically taking down every base and safe house with a rather brutal efficiency," Tony responded as straightforwardly as possible, even if his voice did sound a bit off. "Possible side reason, Pepper was adopted by great parents, had a successful career as the CEO of Stark Industries and was on the brink of my proposing to her before the Ultron incident. In contrast, Hydra, Dr. Jenkins's employer, was on the brink of collapse and from what Natasha has dug up so far, her childhood wasn't pleasant either. So, jealousy would likely be a contributing factor."

"Thank you, that is helpful," Smith nodded, writing down the information. "If there is any more information that you can think of, please get in contact with us. Is there any way to get ahold of you if we have more questions?"

"Happy can give you my number. I also had my AI compile all the video footage from the past six months from all my properties that contain either Pepper or Dr. Jenkins. Maybe it will help you narrow down when exactly the changeover occurred," Tony offered.

"That would be appreciated. Thank you again. I will let you get some rest now," With that Happy disconnected. Tony turned the screen off and looked over to see all the adults in what he now counted as his family watching.

"Well, that was awkward," Tony finally broke the silence.

"How are you handling this?" Steve asked gently.

"Well, a little under a week ago I learnt I was a father because of Hydra stealing my DNA, I suspect with the help of Dr. Jenkins, two days ago I learnt that Hydra had my parents killed, and a few hours ago I realized that Hydra stole from me the first meaningful relationship I have ever had. Granted, I probably would have still lost Pepper from stupidity eventually and I was moving on from it before this but it defiantly sucks. So, no, not handling it well. I am really hoping those files you guys collected turn up a lot of information because right now I want to burn down every Hydra facility I come across," Tony practically snarled the last bit while pacing.

"Well, at least we know he isn't going into shock or shutting down from emotional pain," Natasha stated blandly. "You still aren't allowed to drink."

" _I KNOW THAT!_ " Tony snapped before picking up a vase from a random table and threw it at the wall. The others cleared out of his way while he tore apart the common floor, breaking everything that was breakable in the area.

The some of team watched in silence while he raged, Clint and Laura herded the children out of the danger-zone quickly though. When he finally stopped after throwing a chair at the wall, denting it, Helen moved forward and poked him with a dose of sedative before he had a chance to start working himself up into another rage. As he waivered, fighting against the suddened wave of exhaustion, Steve got behind him and caught him as he finally collapsed. He adjusted the much lighter man in his arms to carry him bridal style before moving towards the elevator. The group began discussing taking a watch and keeping Tony in bed for at least the night to give him time to recover. Natalia was put in the room with Rebecca and Sarah for the night. Natasha took the one free room in their suite and they rotated through the night who watched Tony.

Helen took special care during her turn to check his blood pressure and temperature too keep track of his withdrawal symptoms. As far as she could tell, the man had only moderate withdrawal symptoms so far and she hoped to keep it from getting worse. She noted that the blood pressure was getting high so she recorded the numbers and decided that if the numbers rose by the morning she would give him a small dose of medication to lower it.

However, when morning came, his blood pressure was back to normal and he was calmer, though that might have been lingering traces of the mild sedative she had given him. He did have a slight fever though so she made him lay on the couch where everyone could keep an eye on him, the common floor having been cleaned up by Wanda and Pietro.

 **Author's Note: For anyone wondering why I am putting such an emphasis on Tony's Withdrawal from alcohol, from what I have seen of the movies and comics, Tony has a big problem with it so it makes sense that it would impact his behavior. I decided that he would only go through moderate symptoms which include Insomnia (something he already struggles with so I imagine it would get worse), anxiety, mood swings (elevated by the emotional events in the story line) irregular heartbeat, high blood pressure, fever and mental disorientation. This is why Tony keeps completely losing his shit.**


	16. Chapter 16

**This is a fan made story. I don't own the rights to Captain America, any of its characters or any characters within the MCU… Much to my disappointment. This will have some violent content and possible triggers. Steve/Bucky Established Relationship. Constructive criticism is welcome but if you don't like it simply because you don't like the line of thinking, please don't attack me for it.**

 **AN: My apologies for the massive delay. I have been under a lot of stress which has resulted in writer's block for this story and several others as well that I have been working on an original story for publication. I appreciate the patience though.**

Chapter 16: An Education in Interviews

By noon that day, Tony was feeling back to normal, much to Helen's surprise, and itching to get back to work in his lab. It took a bit of negotiation but eventually she agreed to allow it provided Bruce was in the lab with him to keep an eye on him and FRIDAY monitored his vitals, informing her if his temperature rose again. As soon as Tony agreed to the restrictions, mostly to get her to leave him alone, Helen waved him off towards the elevators. Tony immediately dragged Bruce along with him, declaring that the parts for his Iron Baby and Iron Kid prototypes should have arrived by now and ranting on the restrictions being unfair.

"You would think he didn't have a full-blown tantrum yesterday or the day before," Steve commented as he sat down and began reviewing his planned work for the day, sorting through the emails of requests for interviews with Mr. Stark and the Avengers.

Laura, Tony and he had finally gotten the worst of the mess Dr. Jenkins had left behind in the guise of Pepper Potts. As Steve read each request, he googled the most recent articles from the journalist making the request. A lot of it the recent work focused on the Avengers or Tony so it made sense that they would be begging for an interview after the latest press conference. There was one that stood out, however. She was a journalist that didn't focus solely on the on goings of the Avengers. Christine Everhart's latest pieces covered the Syrian Refugee Crisis, the Dakota Access Pipeline and then, most recently, an in-depth story of Steve and Bucky's known history titled 'A Century of Love'. Steve was curious about the last one and actually read the entire article rather than the first few paragraphs like he had with the others.

Steve wrote her an email back with a number that she could call to set up an appointment with him and the others for an interview. He then went through the others again and looked for the journalist who tended to lean towards the more serious articles and not the tabloids for work. Of those, he picked out two more and sent them a similar email to the one sent to Everhart. By the time he finished with selecting the interviewers it was almost dinner and no one was really in the mood to cook. Steve stood and began making up the preferred sandwiches and wraps for everyone on the floor and delivered it to them before bringing two plates down to the lab for Tony and Bruce.

Tony was working on some kind of hydraulics system attached to what looked like a metal cradle frame. Steve guessed that Tony was starting with his 'Iron Baby' first since the boys really were the most exposed and defenseless. Natalia and Sarah had enough intelligence and an education enough to make themselves at least hard to catch when it came to the bad guys, Nathanial, Joseph and George were all, in comparison, the easiest targets. Tony absently took the sandwich Steve brought him and bit into it, moaned happily and went back to soldering a piece into place.

Bruce thanked him as he ate his wrap, still going through the paperwork for the R&D department. With this, Steve went back up to the main floor. He pulled the headphones off of the heads of the children aged two and older who had been taking basic history lessons from FRIDAY. They had decided that until tutors could be decided upon, the children could take lessons from the AI as it had complete access to Stark Industries archives as well as the internet. Nathanial, George and Joseph had entertained themselves by having crawling races and playing with the toys within the large playpen that had taken over a portion of the living room area.

He made the children sit at the table to eat, though the fare was simple. Three bottles of formula were made up for the boys and fed to them. Eventually, an hour later, the adults all stopped for the night when Tony came up and flopped down on the couch on top of Steve and Bucky. Steve sighed before saving the report he had been reviewing and glared at the head in his lap.

"What do you want Tony?" He grumbled while Bucky glared at Tony for another reason.

"Is it weird that I'm tired? I'm never tired, normally I sleep like two hours but I want to sleep. That's weird, right?" Tony had turned his head to look at Helen who had approached with a thermometer.

She stuck it in his mouth without hesitation and then pulled out her light to check his eyes, "Actually, it is a normal thing that normal people feel when awake after working long hours. It is also a very good sign that your withdrawal is receding." She pulled the thermometer out of his mouth when it beeped and examined it with a satisfied nod. She moved on to checking his BPM and gave another satisfied nod.

"Well?" Tony asked impatiently.

"Your heart rate's normal, eye reaction normal, temperature normal. I think it is safe to say you are past the worst of the withdrawal. If you stay away from alcohol you should find in increase in productivity, believe it or not. Even if you do start sleeping like a normal person," Helen gave Tony a smile and he practically bounced off of Steve and Bucky.

"Fantastic. Does that mean I don't need to keep having a baby sitter?" Tony was virtually petulant in his question.

"I would still like FRIDAY to monitor you for another 48 hours but unless you have a relapse and start drinking again you should be in the clear. But Tony, I do want to get a test of your liver function next week. I took a blood sample while you were sedated the first time so I want to monitor it. If your liver function is up a decent amount we can look at things more positively… if not… well we will keep it monitored. You drank for a long time. I am glad you are taking a responsible stance but we need to keep on top of things. Also, if your body is telling you it's tired, listen to it. Rest will help you heal and recover more quickly," Helen's expression was serious and for the first time, she felt like Tony would be taking her seriously as well. "In time, you may go back to sleeping shorter amounts of time but for right now, your body is recovering from prolonged intoxication."

"Got it doc. Don't touch the liquid poison, keep an eye on my liver, especially with that palladium poisoning a few years ago, get plenty of sleep," Tony nodded and then looked over to realize Clint, Natasha and Wanda were all suppressing laughter. "What's so funny?"

"Tony, a week ago, if someone told me that you would be referring to alcohol as liquid poison and behaving like a responsible father, I would have had them committed to an insane asylum," Clint managed to choke out before giving into his laughter.

"Who knew that it took a two-foot-tall, curly haired, red-head to finally conquer the untamable heart of Anthony Edward Stark," Steve added with a smile before standing and picking up Joseph in one arm and George in the other. "I think it is time we get the kids to bed. Oh, we have an interview the day after tomorrow with Christine Everhart."

Natasha rolled her eyes at Steve while gathering up Natalia. Bucky grabbed hold of Sarah with Rebecca being guided in front of him. Laura and Clint began to herd their children towards the elevator as well. Before they all reached it though, Hill stopped them, "Just so you are aware, I was able to narrow down the number to a reasonable list of candidates for the tutor and nanny positions. I set up the first rounds of groups for Tony and Steve to interview tomorrow. The morning is for tutor options and the afternoon for nannies. You should probably get two of each considering the number of kids. Everyone on the list has a clean record, not so much as a parking ticket, and Wanda, Pietro and Bucky have made sure they aren't Hydra that have come into contact with them. A few of those did apply though, so I sent their information over to Ross and his people. No need to work harder than necessary." Hills voice was dry as she informed them before getting on the elevator that would take her to the garage so she could get to her own apartment.

"Why Tony and Steve? Why not Laura, Bucky and I, we're way more intimidating?" Natasha asked, annoyed.

"Probably because Steve and I are less than hostile. We are just narrowing the numbers down a bit so you can look at only the very best options. The ones who aren't likely to be instantly terrified by the Black Widow, The Winter Soldier and the one woman on the planet that can handle a long term, healthy marriage to an Avenger. You three are scary," Tony responded, grabbing Natalia from Natasha and stepping out of the elevator onto his floor. "I probably still require less sleep than you. I'll take her."

Natasha waved him off as the elevator doors closed and relaxed. With this they all started to file off the elevator at each floor to settle in for the night. Steve and Bucky didn't bother to explain to the others that if anything happened to their kids, they would both be equally terrifying. They came from families that were not well put together. Steve was raised by a single mother after his dad died in WWI and Bucky's mother had been the only constant in his life, his father was constantly away, working or being unfaithful. Both had sworn, if they ever got the chance, their own kids would never go through the same. Unfortunately, they had. Now Steve and Bucky were determined to show their kids what a real family was, if they had a lot of extremely powerful aunts and uncles, well that wasn't going to hurt them either.

The next morning, Steve put on slacks and a button up shirt for the interviews. He intentionally didn't put on a jacket or tie, not wanting to appear too formal. Tony, on the other hand, was dressed like he was about to attend a board meeting. The two of them had settled into one of the conference rooms, waiting for Wanda, who had opted to act as their secretary for this meeting, to do subtle mental checks on the canadites. When nine o'clock rolled around, Wanda, dressed in a russet red pencil dress, escorted a group of ten individuals into the room.

The age range was from eighteen to early sixties. Tony and Steve sat on each end of the long table and stood when the group entered. With five seats on each side of the table, they enacted their first, subtle test, observing how the applicants seated themselves. The older ones, unsurprisingly went to Steve's side, while the younger went to Tony's. Once everyone was seated, Tony and Steve got up, switched sided and then sat again. This immediately set all the applicates in the room on edge.

"You all are here because you have clean backgrounds, PhDs in multiple fields and you all want to educate potentially the most influential members of the next generation. Our children. Children with extraordinary IQ levels, off the charts physical and mental acumen and who will undoubtedly become the next generation of Avengers, protectors of this planet without any political or national affiliation. So here is how we are going to do this, we are going to go around the table, you will introduce yourselves, give us your field of PhDs, your experience and you will tell us why you think you should be permitted access to our children. Those of you who impress us will be invited back for individual interviews with some of the other Avengers. We have one hour until the next group comes in, so let's get started," Steve was firm as he spoke, and gestured for the person to his left to start.

Tony remained silent as he tapped away on his pad, allowing Steve to seemingly lead the meeting until everyone finished speaking. Tony then started asking questions, testing how they would be able to handle certain aspects of the children's education. Just before ten, Wanda opened the door, indicating that it was time for the next batch. Thusly passed Steve and Tony's entire day, the first four groups being the forty top applicants for tutor positions and the next four groups being for the nanny positions. They had a half hour break in the middle to eat, mostly so that Steve didn't scream from hunger at the end the day.

When the last applicants followed Wanda out of the room, Steve sagged in relief, "I didn't think it was possible that there were individuals more arrogant than you or your father Tony, but damn was I wrong. How old was that one kid?"

"Nineteen. Idiot really thought that just having a PhD in Engineering and Physics at age seventeen like me seemed to make him the obvious choice. He doesn't have lick of business acumen though. He would be too busy trying to impress me to teach anything to my kid. Waste of a good mind, I tell you," Tony shook his head as he stood. "I did like that Dr. Culver though. He has PhDs in Physics, Math, English and Education. He's very well rounded. I am surprised by his willingness to give up a tenured position at Princeton but I suppose this is really a once in a lifetime opportunity. I mean, how many two, three and eight-year-old geniuses of this caliber do people get to educate. Especially given their likely futures."

"I agree, I liked him. There were also a few other good ones too. We should get up to the common floor though, Bucky said he would make dinner tonight," Steve commented as he moved them toward the private elevator.

"You two are so domestic it's ridiculous."

"My mom died when I was seventeen and Bucky and Rikki moved in with me not long after to get away from their dad. We had years of practice before WWII. Plus, all my mom's and his mom's recipes. Going out to eat wasn't really an option for those who weren't wealthy in those days. The first meal that I ate that wasn't cooked by my mother, Bucky's mom, Bucky or myself was when I joined the army," Steve responded, stepping out of the elevator and immediately getting hit with a scent of roasted chicken.

"Tony, I don't know why you have a rotisserie in the kitchen but I love you for it. Steve, what seasoning did Bucky put on it? He won't tell anyone besides Rebecca and she isn't talking either," Natasha was near drooling as she eyed the two large birds that Bucky was masterfully carving up.

Rebecca, meanwhile was making what appeared to be a Greek salad with Bruce. Steve just shook his head and smiled, "Sorry, that is one of Mrs. Winifred Barnes recipes. If I told you, she would probably rise from the grave to kill me."

"Well, if you won't share, you and Barnes are just going to have to do all the cooking," Laura commented. "Though, isnt two chickens a bit much, even for us?"

"You might not have noticed this, but the more normal food the kids eat, the bigger their appetites have become," Bucky pointed out, gesturing to Natalia and Sarah that were both eying the slices of chicken in the same manner that Natasha was. "Now that they know not all food is bland and boring they are happy to eat their fill and they need it with their metabolisms. Steve, I really hope you narrowed down the whole tutor/nanny thing, FRIDAY doesn't have arms and thus cannot stop them if they decide they aren't in the mood for… whatever they were supposed to be working on."

"Natalia was supposed to be working on algebra," Rebecca filled in.

Natasha glared at her daughter, "And if she doesn't obey her teachers again, whoever they are, she will be getting a timeout."

"Is that even effective? They kept the kids kind of isolated in that Hydra facility, right?" Steve pointed out, uncomfortable.

"And we hated every second of it," Rebecca commented as she placed the bowl of salad on the table.

Steve frowned, the reminder that their kids had been so poorly treated clearly upsetting him. Bruce wisely changed the subject and they all settled down to eat. After supper, Wanda put on another Dinosaur documentary and the children were once more glued to the TV, fascinated by the concept of the creatures they had just learned existed.

The morning after this was spent by Steve and Tony debating over applicants and then in preparation for the interview with Christine Everhart. Tony was determined to keep it casual, so he refused to have the children dressed up for the interview, and he didn't either. Everyone decided to remain comfortable, though not overly so.

When Christine Everhart entered Avengers Tower's lobby, she and her camera man walked directly towards the receptionist desk only to be intercepted by a tall brunet, "Hello, Ms. Everhart. I'm Maria Hill, I am head of security here, Mr. Rogers asked me to escort you and your camera man up. However, in order to do so, we are going to need to go through a few safety measures, I am sure you understand."

"Of course, it makes perfect sense. Wouldn't want to put the little ones at risk," Christine nodded her understanding and gestured for the man carrying a camera pack with him to follow her. "This is Vanity Fair's best photographer, Fred Wilson. I believe I sent his information to Mr. Rogers in advance."

"Right, pleasure to meet you, Mr. Wilson. Right this way," Hill directed them to a security room.

Once there, she had Wilson put his camera bag on the table and pull everything out, including the foam lining. Once Hill was certain that there was nothing dangerous in the bag, she patted them both down carefully. Once she finished, Maria smiled, "So sorry about that. We are being extremely cautious at the moment."

"Completely understandable. I think I am not alone in saying that I am willing to jump through a lot of hoops for an exclusive after that press conference," Christine smiled again.

After this, Hill brought them over to the elevator intended for private use. She had to place her hand on the palm print scanner before the door would open, "State of the art tech. It reads for not just the palm print but heat signature and microfeatures like vein placement patterns so you can't just cut off the hand or get a copy of a handprint of someone who has access to get in. Not even SHIELD had more advanced tech."

Once they were in the elevator, a laser ran over the three of them, "No transmitter detected." FRIDAY announced before the elevator began moving.

Maria remained silent until they reached the common floor. The first thing Christine noticed was all the children but the babies were sitting on a couch with books of various sizes in their laps. Wilson, who had set up his camera when Maria made him take everything out, immediately snapped a picture of them and then one of Bucky on the floor with the twins in his lap while moving a stuffed toy around while the boys reached for it.

"Ms. Everhart, thank you for joining us. The kids are currently learning about ancient Greece. The one subject Hydra failed to teach them was history. I'm guessing they wanted to keep their own actions from the children. Please, this way," Steve led her over to another couch with a chair across from it.

Bucky, meanwhile, had put the stuffed toy down and the twins into the play pen. He came over to join the rest of the adults, sans Laura who remained watching over the children. A glance to her left confirmed for Christine that Wilson had gotten a candid of Bucky playing with the twins and the older children working on the computers. The adults were all gathered and sitting on the couches and chairs near a coffee table. Christine took one of the empty seats opposite them and Wilson snapped a few shots of the Avengers in casual clothes as they sat back, relaxed.

"Thank you so much for giving us this opportunity. Please know that I fully understand if there is something you don't want to talk about, just let me know and we can move on," Christine stated as she pulled out an audio recorder and the notes she had brought with her.

"What happened to the hard-hitting investigative reporter from Berkley that asks the invasive and hard questions?" Tony asked, amusement in his voice.

"Oh, that was when I believed I was dealing with a man who held a complete disregard for human life to the point that he was willing to profit off their deaths. I am fully aware now that I had the wrong man for that. Something you have proven repeatedly, Mr. Stark. It also isn't in the best interest of Vanity Fair to piss off the people who have saved the world multiple times," Christine smiled at him before turning to her notes.

A glance up told her that the entire group was ready and waiting for questions, "So, I am going to start with a simple question. How did the Avengers become aware that there were children being held in a Hydra facility that might be their own flesh and blood?"

"Well, that would be me, and we didn't know that they had all the kids, just that they had Rebecca. You might be aware of the incident in DC a few years ago with the fall of SHIELD?" Bucky had leaned forward and waited for her nod of confirmation. "Well, I was a major component of that. I was being held by Hydra and brainwashed into being a secret weapon. Before you ask, the brain washing has been removed fully and I am no threat to anyone who isn't a threat to humanity.

"Anyways, during the time that I was under Hydra control they had taken some of my… DNA and used it to make Rebecca. I didn't learn of it until she was five and they started to have me train her, that was about three years ago, a short while before the DC incident. Anyways, during that training Rebecca managed to break through a good chunk of the brainwashing, mostly because she looks a lot like my little sister, Rikki, from back before the war. I tried to escape with her but failed. After Steve broke through the brain washing a second time, during the DC incident, I began to slowly remember bits and pieces and began taking out the Hydra facilities that I remembered the locations of.

"During one of those facilities destruction, I came across Rebecca's information and the memories came flooding back. I gathered as much intel about other Hydra bases and then went straight to Steve. By that point, I was well aware that if I went into a Hydra base under-prepared it would be costly."

"So, you weren't expecting the other children to be there?" Christine asked, it wasn't a question on her list but needed to be asked.

"No, when we went in, it was with the intel that there was a high probability of Rebecca being at that facility and we went in to search the place top to bottom and gather as much intel as possible in case she wasn't there. Our search method resulted in us finding all the children and to say we were unnerved would be an understatement," Natasha answered this question in a controlled tone.

"So, how did you find out the children were yours?" Christine went with a safe follow up.

"Well, when it came to Sarah, it was a bit instinctual for me. I have baby pictures of myself and you would understand why I might get the idea that she was my kid if you saw them. Then you have the fact that Natalia is nearly a carbon copy miniature of Natasha, but beyond that, the computer data that Tony collected had all their details on it so we only needed DNA tests to confirm that they were ours," Steve replied.

"Could we see some of those baby pictures, and a picture of Sgt. Barnes's sister, if there is one? Is that too much to ask?" Christine looked almost excited at the prospect.

"Tony scanned all the photos into the computer system for us, so yeah, it shouldn't be too hard to show them to you. Plus, we anticipated the request so we have some on the table over there," Steve gestured to the dining table that had a box of photo albums.

"I have some of the old war propaganda reels too. My dad kept all of Steve's and Bucky's stuff after the war. Money went a long way to pulling the right strings back then. I have it all on the computer system," Tony offered as well. "I put it all on the flash drive for you."

Christine looked absolutely gleeful at having this kind of opportunity, "That is fantastic and I can't tell you how much we appreciate it. Now, onto the next question. Now that you are all parents, how is it effecting your daily lives and any missions that you've gone on?"

"Oh, well, I would say it has had a major impact of all of us. Myself in particular, I always swore to myself that I would be a better parent than my dad if I ever became a dad and I am really throwing myself into that promise. The others can confirm that. I think the biggest impact on my life though is that I stopped drinking alcohol. An alcoholic father isn't something I would wish on anyone and I definitely won't have my daughter facing that," Tony answered first.

Christine's jaw dropped, "You have given up drinking? Completely? Even on special occasions?"

"Yep. The AI, FRIDAY, is under strict orders to report to me if Tony even looks at the stuff. We're all very impressed how quickly he determined to clean up his act. He has also been a very hands-on dad. Tony and I just personally did the personally did the preliminary interviews for tutors and nannies for the children. Add on to that that he is teaching her the basic tools of engineering personally and I think you can get a good idea of the hands-on side. He is also working on new measures for the kids in an emergency protocol," Steve confirmed.

"Well, that is certainly impressive. How has going from zero to four children been for you, Captain Rogers?" Christine asked, turning back to how it impacted them to have children.

"Honestly, it's a little overwhelming. I'm truly grateful that I have Bucky and everyone else as a backup to help with the kids. Putting that aside, it is also a bit exciting. Growing up in the 30's, there was always that underlying concern that I would never even live to adulthood much less have a family and kids. That really doubled when I realized I was gay and in love with Bucky. They really didn't have all the opportunities for gay couples back then since it was considered illegal. It really has been an experience and it really is just so new. After all that I have gone through, between my health problems pre-serum, the highly experimental super soldier program and then getting frozen in ice… I hadn't even really been sure that having kids was a possibility and to be honest, without Bucky it probably wouldn't have had the same meaning to it," Steve answered.

"And you Sgt. Barnes? What's it been like for you?" Christine asked, her voice slightly emotional.

"Bliss. I haven't been this happy ever, in my entire life. Before WWII Steve's health and our sexuality being discovered was always a concern, then when his health wasn't a concern, we were in an active combat zone doing nearly daily missions, then under Hydra's control and then I was fighting Hydra without Steve. This is the first time I have had the opportunity to slow down and even in my wildest dreams before the war, I never imagined getting the chance to have kids and just being a family with Steve. Now I get that and it is without the threat of it being illegal, I get to marry him and we have four beautiful children, admittedly we don't know a lot about them, but it is just bliss. If I have to fight everyone to keep this, I will," Bucky was dead serious as he spoke.

Christine looked a little teary eyed, "That is so sweet. I am going to come back to your relationship later but I still need to ask, Ms. Romanoff, how has it been for you?" Christine's voice was laden with emotion.

"I have to admit, I am in the same boat as Bucky and Steve, though for a different reason and in the same boat as Tony for a different reason. When I was in the Red Room, well before joining SHIELD, after I completed my training, they tied my tubes to prevent pregnancy so I never really imagined having my own kids. If you add on all the horrible things that I did before joining SHIELD and the Avengers, I had no problems thinking that it was a good thing that I couldn't have kids because, what kind of mother would I be? Natalia was a surprise but an exciting and happy one. I also don't want my daughter to have the same childhood I had, but I know that to a small extent Hydra has been doing to her what the Red Room did to me and I am glad we got her away from that. I will probably be throwing myself into being a mom as much as possible, even if the only examples I have to go by are Laura and Steve and even if Tony does hog her a little bit," Natasha finished off, earning her a wet laugh from Christine.

"And Mr. Barton, what does it feel like to no longer be the only Avenger with kids?" Christine asked, a few sympathetic tears having escaped.

"Oh, I would say it's a blast. My kids now have other children their age that will be able to understand what it is like to have parents who are super heroes of international fame. Plus, it is probably the first time where everyone has to look to me for advice on something important. I am the only one with real parenting skills," Clint answered getting another laugh from Christine, this one less emotional. "All joking aside though, I think it's a good experience for all involved. Children tend to keep us grounded in reality and give us a really great motivation for waiting to keep the world safe. Nothing more powerful than wanting a better future for your kids to make sure that you want to eliminate the bad guys."

"How has the children impacted the group dynamic overall?" Christine moved on.

"I would say we're definitely a little more tight-knit than before, at least in our living arrangements. We have all pretty much moved into the tower as a way to ensure security for the kids and to pool our collective parenting skills. I have been doing a lot more cooking. Plus, it brought Bucky home so I definitely won't be complaining about that," Steve answered.

"Tony's quitting drinking has also raised the maturity level of the group too," Natasha added, earning another laugh. "Seriously though, I think the kids have really given us a point of unity that we didn't have before. Clint's right though, we all have a much bigger stake in our jobs as Avengers when it comes to the fight. It isn't just about our personal or moral stance on wanting to protect people and keeping the casualties to a minimum while fighting the bad guys now. It is a lot more personal and I think in time it is going to allow us to fight with better cohesion and maybe get even better at protecting others."

"Wanda, Pietro, as some of the newest Avengers, and the youngest as well, how has this influenced you?" Christine asked, focusing on the two who were barely 20 years old.

"I would say that it has made the group feel more like a family to us. We never had that growing up, we lost our parents at such a young age, and it is starting to feel like we can understand what it means now. Even before this, Tony was already behaving as a father-figure would towards his kids, trying to get Pietro and I to really incorporate ourselves into the group and Clint and Steve were real mother hens but now it feels a little more natural," Wanda answered, her smile soft.

After this Christine moved on to less personal, more general questions about the group before honing back in on Steve and Bucky's relationship, both past and present. The interview wrapped up with Christine and Wilson getting pictures of the Avengers with and without their children and going through the photos from before WWII. Wilson artistically scattered a few of the more emotionally revealing pictures on the table and snapped a few shots before they scooped up the flash drive from Tony and left the tower fully pleased with their endeavors.

When Everhart and Wilson reached the office building for Vanity Fair, they were nearly swarmed for the interview details and the main editor assigned a group of journalists and photographers to the task of working on the story that would dominate the next issue released in two weeks. It was going to be a special Avengers addition with a special release and there would be a lot of research involved for the group.


	17. Chapter 17

**This is a fan made story. I don't own the rights to Captain America, any of its characters or any characters within the MCU… Much to my disappointment. This will have some violent content and possible triggers. Steve/Bucky Established Relationship. Constructive criticism is welcome but if you don't like it simply because you don't like the line of thinking, please don't attack me for it.**

Chapter 17: Feelings

After the interview with Christine Everhart, Natasha, Laura and Bucky had fun terrorizing the prospective nannies and tutors for the second round of interviews. As a result, when they selected the final four to work for them, they were more than a little wary of the women living in the tower. Dr. Culver made it into the final selection, along with Dr. Selene Corrin with her masters in ancient and modern history and PhD in cultural anthropology. Sarah Milford and Jason Thompson were settled on as nannies. Both had their Masters in early childhood education and were trained in martial arts, something that Natasha, Laura and Bucky had deemed essential for anyone caring for their children.

The two other reporters who garnered interviews over the next few weeks were less in-depth than Everhart, focusing on only a couple of aspects of the group. Following this, the board meeting for Stark Industries occurred. There was a bit of fuss about how everyone failed to notice the switch from Pepper Potts to Amelia Jenkins but it passed with the knowledge that the damage had been repaired. Tony, Steve, Laura, Bruce and Helen settled into their roles within the company. Tony had an easier time of it, having formerly held the position he was stepping back into it.

By the time a full month had passed, everyone was adjusting the complete change having so many children about caused. As for the children's specialized educations, while the tutors and nannies took care of the day-to-day things, Bucky, Steve and Natasha had taken to morning physical training for all but the infants. Sarah, Natalia and Lila had a limited training due to their young age, the adults not wanting to hurt their development. Cooper and Rebecca, however, were given training in the basic combat fighting, endurance and muscle building. The intent was to provide them with building blocks for a future where they would need it, being the children of the Avengers making them at minimum targets and topped out at having them being the future protectors of the world.

With this, a new routine was developed for the entire group. Steve and Bucky debated briefly about finding their own house but opted against it until the children were a little older, not wanting to expose them to unnecessary danger when they had ample space where they were. When Steve and Sarah's birthday arrived, they settled on going to Coney Island for the day and watching the fireworks there that evening. It ended up being a battle to wrangle everyone into the cars but they eventually managed by taking a third car.

It was the first time the kids went to an amusement park and everyone had to team up to ensure that none of them got lost. Fortunately, between the numerous Avengers and the nannies, they managed to get through most of the day without a major incident. Tony did talk Bucky into the hotdog eating contest. The man had an unfair advantage and easily won, to some mutual amusement and disgust, depending on the person in question.

Clint, Bucky and Natasha terrorized the ring toss, darts and shooting games with ease. The nannies had to ferry massive stuffed animals to the cars several times as a result. Bucky and Clint even began teaching Rebecca and Natalia how to beat the games, Clint's kids were already well trained in the art. They kept to the tamer rides for the most part, the children limiting the options, though Tony and Clint had managed to get Rebecca and Cooper on some of the higher thrill rides that they were big enough for.

They were ending the day on the beach, setting up for the fireworks when Tony got a phone call. He separated himself from the group to speak with the caller and was frowning when he came back, "That was Detective Smith. The one investigating Pepper's murder. She wants to know if I can triangulate exactly when Jenkins switched places with Pepper. Apparently Pepper's cause of death is somewhat confusing the coroners and they want a more precise date of when it might have occurred."

"How are you going to do that?" Steve asked, concerned. Tony had been doing a shockingly great job of coping with Pepper's death and the truth of what had happened to her.

"I have a few ideas. Even if they were identical twins, Jenkins, body will have subtle differences from Pepper's. I can have FRIDAY do an imaging comparison of everything we have on her. Jenkins will have to have switched places immediately after killing Pepper so we could possibly narrow it down to a few days. Also, Pepper was exposed to Extremis and Jenkins wasn't so that would have a definite impact as well. I am going to get started on that. You guys stay and have fun," Tony stated, giving Natalia a kiss on the cheek.

"How are you planning on getting back?" Rhodey asked, skeptically. "We kind of need the cars."

"I have my suitcase armor in the back of one. I will take that back to the tower," Tony shrugged. Everyone else rolled their eyes and focused back on having fun.

The kids had their faces painted, got balloons and watched the fireworks. If Bucky held onto Steve's hand a little tightly as they watched the fireworks, Steve didn't comment, knowing there was good reason for them to bring out emotions in Bucky. By the end, the kids were asleep on their feet as they made their way back to the cars. Steve ended up carrying Sarah as she had fallen asleep towards the end of the fireworks.

However, when they got back to the tower, FRIDAY immediately informed them that Tony needed them once the kids had been put to bed. This brought up some concern, so the team worked quickly to get the sleepy children tucked in. Bruce, Rhodey, Wanda, Pietro, and Vision had gone down to the gym where FRIDAY had said he was immediately, though and had been unsettled to see Tony punching viciously at a punching bag. He was clearly raging and they were afraid to approach him, unwilling to hurt him, which very well might occur it they attempted to force him to stop using one of their powers.

When the others joined them, it was Steve who finally intervened. While the others stood back, Steve marched forward, approaching Tony from behind and wrapped his arms around the man, pinning his arms to his side in the process. For a few moments, Tony thrashed about, screaming angrily at Steve before slumping in his arms and breaking down into sobs.

Steve sighed before sitting down on the floor and cradling Tony in his lap like a child. He didn't know what had triggered this reaction but he knew that Tony did need to get it out of his system before they were going to get anything coherent out of him. Steve, himself, had gone through an angry at everything phase when he had first come out of the ice and had spent way too much time at a punching bag to vent the frustration he felt. It wasn't until he joined the Avengers that he got past it.

It took Tony almost a half hour to stop crying and slip out of Steve's lap, "Well now my dignity is completely ruined." He stated awkwardly, his voice still wet.

"You're hanging with us now. Dignity's got nothing to do with it," Natasha and the others had settled around Steve while Tony cried, her calm voice quoting Sid from Ice Age had Tony giving a wet chuckle.

"So, what got you so worked up?" Rhodey was the one to ask, he was Tony's best friend and he knew that the man had never acted like this before, not even after Afghanistan.

"Pepper… Pepper isn't real. None of it was real. Come on, I will show you," Tony was calmer now, wiping away the tear tracks and leading them to the elevators.

Everyone else shared confused looks before following him. He brought them to his computer labs, where what he had been working on was still up on the screens. There were dozens of pictures of Pepper, or possibly Dr. Jenkins as none of them were dated.

"Ok, you were comparing images. You said that you would be doing that. What's so special about all of these? They are all Pepper, as far as I can tell," Rhodey was a little unsettled by the number of imagines but let it slide because he knew the reasoning for why they were being checked.

"No, they're not. Not one of these is Pepper because Virginia 'Pepper' Potts isn't a real person. These images are of two different people spanning the past ten years that 'Pepper' has worked for me. The two of them rotated out regularly. Once I realized that, I did some digging into Dr. Amelia Jenkins and found this," Tony paused speaking to put up two documents on the screen. "The adoption paperwork for Amelia Jenkins _AND_ Jennifer Jenkins. They were adopted at age ten. Further digging produced a degree along with photographic evidence of Jennifer Jenkins graduating with a Masters in Computer engineering twenty years ago, the same time when Amelia Jenkins was getting her Doctorate in Physics."

Everyone was staring at the data in the screen, "Чертовски сука, Она использовала вас." Natasha started speaking in Russian without thinking.

"Bitches, there were two, not one," Bucky corrected, knowing exactly what Natasha had said. Clint was nodding his head in agreement while everyone else just looked confused.

"What exactly did she just say?" Tony finally asked.

"Fucking bitch, she used you. Sorry, it is an impulse when I am upset, you know that," Natasha responded with sincerity.

"How did they get past the background check or the fingerprint scanners?" Rhodey asked in concern.

"It was Jennifer. She had a degree in computer programing. I have FRIDAY running a scan to figure out just how she managed it but the background check would have been easy if they planned in advance. One of them, presumably Jennifer, worked in the same company as Killian, under the name Virginia Potts to build a work history and anyone with a decent level of skill can hack into the social security network and FBI databases. Even fabricating an academic record for a business degree from Princeton isn't impossible. It is next to impossible to find traces of a good hacker if you don't know exactly what you're doing and where to look. Add to that the fact that I didn't have JARVIS or even FRIDAY in place back then to act as a cyber security watchdog and even my systems weren't the best at defense like they are now. I had just really started taking over the company when 'Pepper' joined," Tony was sagging into a nearby chair.

"Well, that is one big mess," Wanda stated the obvious and earned a laugh.

"No kidding. I am having FRIDAY running a comprehensive diagnostic of Stark Industries and our personal computers now. I should probably call Detective Smith as well to inform her what I found. I did narrow down when they stopped switching though, ten months ago when Amelia Jenkins was pregnant with the twins. Probably because she was starting to show. You can see it in a few of the pictures if you know what to look for. I don't know when she died though, just that she is definitely the one dead and it was no earlier than five months ago because that was when the twins were born. Jennifer's the one that is still alive," Tony had paused to point to the pictures where a slight swell could be seen in some of them.

"How are you going to explain this to Detective Smith. It's a bit complex," Bruce pointed out.

"I am going to call her and ask her to come in person so that I can explain this mess in detail. Withholding information will just make the situation worse. I'm just glad that I finished the kids' suits just in case anything happens now," Tony shrugged. He was clearly drained.

"Okay. That makes sense. Only, I am going to make the call and you are going to bed. You look half dead. Too much emotion for your limited range of capabilities, I think," Natasha stated as she took his phone from him.

Tony sputtered before receiving several concerned looks and stood. Bruce stopped him though, "After I treat those hands. You're supposed to wrap them before you start pounding on a punching bag, Tony." He pointed out to everyone the split knuckles that they had all forgotten about. The blood had mostly dried so there wasn't anything on the computers but it still needed to be cleaned and bandaged.

Tony reluctantly allowed himself to be dragged off by Bruce while Natasha made the phone call. Once she finished, she ordered Clint to get a good night's sleep and go pick up the detective in the morning in a QuinJet. After this, everyone went to bed, though only the exhaustion from the overly long day had them falling asleep. Steve and Bucky's still broken due to night time feedings for their sons.

The next day, Tony was shut away with the Detective most of the day, lending his assistance to the investigation that had just gotten far more complicated. Apparently, what had tipped Detective Smith off that something wasn't right was a coroner's report that the dead body had given birth not long before her death. The detective stayed for two days before taking all the information back to LA to continue the investigation there.

It was only after this that Tony noticed something unusual, at least for Natasha. She was avoiding being alone with Bruce, he realized. She never came down to the labs while Bruce was in them alone, she didn't stay in a room where Bruce entered if there were less than two other people and it dawned on him that she really hadn't talked to Bruce since he had returned.

Natasha must have noticed his noticing because, one evening, a week after the detective left, she came into his workshop with a couple of bottles and some glasses. At first, Tony thought they were alcohol until he looked closer and realized they were the components for a Shirley Temple. Natasha smirked as she fixed them both glasses and sat on the couch next to him.

"I figured we could share in our romantic woes. You with your ex being a fake person and me with having the first guy I showed interest in in ages quite literally running away and only coming back when I have a kid to complicate matters," Natasha chuckled while handing him one of the drinks.

"I don't think we can compare the two situations. I was sleeping with two women while thinking they were one person who didn't exist and completely in love with that non-existent person. You still have a shot with your paramour," Tony pointed out and took a sip of the sugary drink. It didn't have the effect on him that alcohol would have had at numbing the swirl of emotions he was still fighting to cope with.

"Yes, because Bruce, the celibate monk is really going to invest time and energy into the mother of his best friend's child. Let's face it. Shit got complicated when we got a kid to share. I don't even know how to be a good mom. I am just doing everything that Laura said was a good idea when it comes to kids and hoping that Natalia doesn't become emotionally stunted like we both are," Natasha laughed a little.

"Really? You're probably doing better than me then. I am just winging it. Honestly, I am kind of glad we're in this together. If she was just my kid, I would completely screw her up. Most almost four-year-old kids aren't learning how to build cars, at least I don't think they are," Tony shrugged.

"Yeah, but you are at least putting in the effort to spend time with her. A lot of dads don't do that, at least from what I have read on parenting forums they don't. A lot of women out there complain about how absent their significant others are in their kids' lives. Besides, she is virtually a mini you in terms of her brain. Super intelligent and sassy. I think Dr. Corrin wanted to strangle Natalia the other day when she corrected her on a complex equation," Natasha's smile was sincere.

"Please, you are just as sassy as she is. Plus, her looks are ninety-eight percent you. I swear, Natalia is going to be a terrifying woman when she grows up," Tony pointed out.

"True. Daddy's money and brains, mommy's good looks and cunning. She had the makings of a world class super villain. I think that if she attempted world domination, she might succeed," Natasha looked a little proud of the idea.

"Maybe we should sic her on Ross at the upcoming Senate hearing for the Sokovia Accords. She is smart enough to talk him into a corner and then we can be all 'you can't defend this act against a four-year-old? How will you justify it to the world?'" Tony laughed at the image his mind presented of his tiny daughter talking the Secretary of Defense into revealing himself.

"So, you secured a testimony spot for us?" Natasha asked seriously.

"Wasn't hard. I just pointed out that you can't fairly ratify something pertaining to a specific group of individuals that will seriously impact their rights without first hearing out their position on the matter. Enough recalled the public hearing about my Iron Man suits and the outcome of the theft of one of them by the government that they agreed that it would be wise to hear us out. The fact that it will impact future generations as well should definitely be considered, now that I'm thinking on it," Tony shrugged and finished off his drink before getting up to mix another.

"We should prep the older kids as well. If Rebecca testifies on what Hydra was doing by stealing our DNA and trying to generate their own super powered individuals, that might scare some of them into thinking that giving us the free hand might be a safer option too," Natasha agreed.

"We got completely off topic," Tony pointed out suddenly.

"True. How are you handling Pepper not being real or Pepper?" Natasha asked after making herself another Shirley Temple as well.

"Honestly? Once I got over the initial shock, relieved. If they switched so frequently and no one ever noticed then it isn't my fault that Pepper's dead. Not if she was never real to begin with. Does that make me horrible? That I am able to separate the feelings that way? Pepper wasn't real, the person I saw as Pepper wasn't real, so the feelings that I felt for Pepper can be severed without guilt?" Tony asked.

"No. It doesn't make you a horrible person. Your love for the idea of Pepper Potts was real but that doesn't mean that you have to pine for someone who doesn't exist. You also had time to already mourn the death of your relationship when they separated themselves from you after what happened in Sokovia," Natasha pointed out.

"So, if I wanted to ask someone else out… that would be okay too?" Tony asked suddenly.

Natasha laughed, "Yeah. It's okay. Your relationship ended long before you learnt 'Pepper' was dead. I wouldn't be super public about it, but you can totally date someone else. Just not me. I am not dating you, even if you are Natalia's father. We never had sex and we never will."

Tony smiled at that, "So, you and Bruce…"

Natasha groaned, "Yes, I'm avoiding him. Clint has been pestering me about it for weeks. I just don't know what to say, you know? I kissed him in Sokovia, told him I adore him and after that he ran away. The first time I open myself to a real relationship… ever… and the guy goes running in big green hulk form away from me."

"Ever think that he might have panicked?" Tony asked her in all seriousness. "After all, it isn't exactly like he can have a conventional relationship, what with big green and all that."

"Who said I needed sex? I was raised with the concept of sex being a tool to control a target. Sex and… affection aren't mutually inclusive. In all honesty, I'm asexual. I only ever had sex for missions. It doesn't need to be a part of the relationship for me. I would be happy with genuine affection," Natasha stated.

"Why are you telling me this? Why not confide in Legolas? Isn't he your bestest girlfriend anyways?" Tony suddenly asked.

"If I pestered Clint about this anymore he might strangle me, or at least attempt to. In his opinion, I should confront Bruce and…" Natasha cut off as the elevator sounded and flipped over the couch they were sitting on to hide behind it.

Tony realized why as Bruce came into view and headed straight for him. Tony smirked at his science bro as the other flopped down in the seat Natasha had just vacated, "Brucey Bear, what brings you to my workshop?"

"FRIDAY said Tasha was here. Only you appear to be the only person here. Do you know what's going on with her? I can't get ten seconds alone with her without her finding some excuse to leave," Bruce sounded frustrated.

"Well… She is a mom now on top of working for Stark Industries AND being an Avenger. Maybe she's just busy," Tony didn't want to completely go right into it with Bruce, deciding to get the other to open up about his feels while Natasha was stuck hiding behind the couch. There was only one route out of the workshop and unless she could turn invisible, Natasha would have a hard time sneaking out while they were facing the doors.

"Please, we all still have free time on our hands. No, she is definitely avoiding me," Bruce groaned.

"Why do you think that?" Tony asked, full well knowing the answer.

"Probably because she is hoping that if she keeps me at arm's length she won't have to verbally reject me," Bruce stated bluntly.

"Or, maybe she is afraid of being hurt again. You did kind of run away when she had started flirting with you before. Granted, Natasha is terrifying and her flirting should, by all rights, have even the Hulk running quickly on standard circumstances but I think she was serious about her interest in you and that isn't something that anyone else in the world can say," Tony pointed out. "Plus, she has a kid now. That means she is putting more at risk if she opens herself up to a relationship, especially with someone who has already run away once."

"So, how do I get her to listen to me? I'm not going to run again. I can't. I run again, I don't think I'll ever stop. At the same time, I am afraid of what the Hulk could do, how he could hurt others, hurt her and Natalia," Bruce had slumped down.

Tony stood and smirked, "You just did. I will let you two sort out the particulars. Natasha, stop hiding now. Face your relationship issue like a grown-up." Tony chuckled as Bruce turned bright red and Natasha stood up and started swearing at him in Russian.

 **Author's Note: Before anyone complains about the twist I made in this chapter, it was necessary to fix a massive plot hole that I realized existed while reading through some of the earlier chapters. Amelia Jenkins wouldn't have been able to conceal her pregnancy of the twins while running Stark Industries. That there are two working together was the only way to reconcile the problem. Plus, I really hate Pepper Potts (She has always struck me as a really stuck up holier-than-thou kind of character. I mean, seriously, who refers to a fellow, fully educated, serious investigative journalist like Christine Everhart as 'trash' just because she decided to have a one-night stand with Tony? She is a really piece of work). So, I dismantled the perfect girlfriend image and made her into a monster :).**

 **Also, a translation (from google translate) of the Russian I used.**

 **Чертовски сука = Fucking bitch**

 **Она использовала вас** **= She used you**


	18. Chapter 18

**This is a fan made story. I don't own the rights to Captain America, any of its characters or any characters within the MCU… Much to my disappointment. This will have some violent content and possible triggers. Steve/Bucky Established Relationship. Constructive criticism is welcome but if you don't like it simply because you don't like the line of thinking, please don't attack me for it.**

 **Author's Note: Sorry, I know this is delayed. I have been having major writer's block. This chapter I am changing things up a bit and starting off with Natalia's POV and the chapter is starting slightly before the end of Chapter 17's end conversation with Natasha, Tony and Bruce.**

Chapter 18: Conspiracy and Trust

Natalia had been observing her parents closely since they had rescued her. Her mommy seemed to be unhappy with Bruce, and her daddy, while he did spend a lot of time with her, seemed to get angry a lot and needed a lot of hugs to calm down. She wondered if daddy was always like this or it was just because her and the others being found had changed his life.

She contemplated these things while doing one of the boringly easy math equations that her new tutors had her working on. Her mind filtered out the chatter of how best to solve the math equations for that lesson while she thought about how best to cheer her daddy up. As she thought about it, she settled on food as that was what seemed to make Rebecca, Sarah, George and Joseph happy. Uncle Steve and Uncle Bucky also seemed to like it a lot and everyone seemed to be happiest when they were eating.

With a nod as the tutors left for the day, Natalia watched as the afternoon nanny sat down nearby. Once the nanny was focused on the twins, who had started crying to be fed again, Natalia pulled Sarah and Rebecca into a corner of the room where the adults wouldn't notice them. Once they were alone, she laid out her plan. When she finished she looked to the two other girls, "So, do you think it will work?" She asked. She might be the smartest of them but she wasn't always the best at figuring out how to make people do what she wanted. Rebecca was better at that.

"We can't. We would need an adult to help us. Daddy will get mad if we use the stove without an adult present. Besides, we don't know how to make pancakes," Rebecca pointed out.

"What's this about pancakes?" The nanny, Natalia hadn't really bothered to learn her name, asked.

Natalia hesitated, mulling over Rebecca's words before answering, "I want to surprise daddy and mommy and everyone with breakfast." Natalia decided that if they needed to have an adult's help, then it may as well be the nanny.

"Hmm… Well, you do need an adult to help you cook a breakfast… but… I think I might be able to help you there. I know how to cook _and_ how to keep a surprise a surprise," Ms. Milford, Natalia's brain finally supplied the name of the nanny who had been generally ignored up until this point since being hired. Natalia had spent most of her time that wasn't in lessons with Dr. Culver or Dr. Corrin with her daddy.

"I think that could work," Natalia nodded, satisfied with her coconspirator's offer.

"How do we get around FRIDAY?" Sarah asked. "Won't she tell daddy or uncle Tony if we get up before they do?"

Rebecca shrugged, "Ask her not to? I mean, if we have an adult to help us, we aren't breaking any rules or hurting anyone. She's supposed to want Uncle Tony to be happy, right? This is to make him happy, so she should cooperate."

"I agree," Ms. Milford nodded as she spoke. "So, when are we implementing operation Breakfast?"

"Tomorrow morning," Natalia stated firmly. "You should be her by four because Uncle Steve and Uncle Bucky wake up really early."

Ms. Milford nodded her understanding, "Very well. I will be up before the sun."

Natalia instinctively responded by correcting her, informing the woman how much earlier than the sun she needed to be to be ready on time. Rebecca rolled her eyes, "Do you need me for this or can I sleep until my normal time?"

"I guess I will be okay with just Ms. Milford if you don't want to help," Natalia pouted a little.

"I'll help!" Sarah commented a bit loudly, thankfully the rest of the other adults hadn't noticed that they were conspiring.

"Well, if you don't need me, I'm sleeping while I can," Rebecca shrugged. She wasn't that attached to Uncle Tony, like Natalia was.

They went their separate ways as Natalia's daddy came and took her to his lab. The car that they had been building together for her birthday was almost finished, he assured her. They just needed to pick out the color for the car and he would have some interns paint it because the fumes weren't good for little kids.

Once she picked her color, electric blue, her daddy put her in front of a screen and FRIDAY started to explain all the parts needed to create her own computer. Natalia happily immersed herself into the creative world of computers and programing, only pausing briefly to ask FRIDAY not to wake her daddy in the morning when Sarah, Ms. Milford and she were making the adults breakfast. The AI agreed easily enough since, as Rebecca said, they weren't breaking any rules or hurting anyone by doing it.

The rest of her afternoon was spent in the lab with her daddy. He would occasionally have her pause in her computer building lesson to run an idea past her. She wasn't sure why he thought she should give her opinion of opening up the company to designing non-lethal weaponry for the police to lower the death rates of cops killing innocent people but she told him it sounded like a good idea. When she asked him why he thought her opinion matter, his answer made her freeze, "Because, one day, this company will be your company. I want you to know the ins and outs of it from the start."

Her daddy would say things like that occasionally. She didn't know why it was so important to him but she didn't mind. She liked to spend time with him. Natalia had found that, unlike most people, even her tutors, her daddy was smarter than she was. If he was smarter, than she could learn from him, plus, he understood her when she got excited about learning something new. It was for this reason that she wanted to make him happy. If she could make him happier, less grumpy, maybe he could teach her even more.

Eventually, her lessons with her daddy were at an end as Pietro came into the lab and told them that it was time for dinner. Natalia had found that she really liked to eat, now that the food was yummy and not like what they fed at the facility. She happily allowed her daddy to pick her up and bring her to the elevator. Uncle Bucky had made supper with Rebecca, something that Natalia was curious about and why she had asked Rebecca to help with her plan, Rebecca had been learning how to cook.

Ms. Milford had already left for the day along with the other nanny, Jason Thompson. Rebecca quietly whispered to her that FRIDAY had told her that they were a go for the plan. Natalia smirked in satisfaction at the news. She tried to follow her mommy's movements to eat, like she was being taught. Mommy insisted that it was important to eat in a dignified way. It wasn't always easy, after all, at the facility, they weren't allowed forks or knives, just spoons and they were always watched closely with them. Of course, only Rebecca was allowed to use a knife now, but Natalia knew that was because she was little and not because she wasn't trusted to not hurt others with it.

After supper, Wanda and Pietro watched a dinosaur documentary with them as the other adults went off to do adult things. Pietro and Wanda gave Natalia and the other kids chocolate milk and carrots to nibble on while they watched their documentary. At the end of the second one that they watched, Natalia's daddy came and collected her, declaring it was bedtime. Natalia had gradually become accustomed to her daddy's odd definition of 'bedtime'. The others said that their bedtime was a bit like it was at facility, only now it came with silly, made up stories and hugs and kisses. Natalia got the hugs and kisses from her mommy, like the others did, but she didn't have to lay down and go to sleep until she was ready to. Daddy said it was because she didn't need as much sleep as the other kids did.

Instead, she got to watch daddy work or watch more documentaries or have another lesson with FRIDAY until she was sleepy. When she was finally sleepy, she would just curl up in her daddy's arms and he put her in her bed in the room next to his when he went to bed himself. Tonight, she worked on building a virtual computer, carefully piecing together the bits on the screen with care until she grew drowsy.

Natalia had no problems with waking early in the morning, she always did. She was quiet as she picked up the clothes that mommy had laid out for her the night before. It had become a normal routine, once mommy realized that Natalia would always wake first and could dress herself, she started to just set out her clothing for the next day.

After she was dressed, Natalia carefully slipped out of her bedroom and sneaked to the elevator. She needed to wake Sarah up to help with making breakfast. Ms. Milford would be here soon. FRIDAY was quiet too, keeping the elevator from ringing when she reached Sarah and Rebecca's floor. She crept carefully to Rebecca and Sarah's room and woke Sarah up. Rebecca woke briefly as Natalia helped Sarah dress but just went back to sleep, wanting to get it when she could. Sarah kept yawning as Natalia led her back to the elevator and they took it up to the common floor.

"What now?" Sarah asked once they reached the main floor.

"Ms. Milford should be here soon. Maybe we should start getting the stuff out so that we can begin when she gets here," Natalia suggested.

"Ok. Daddy uses a funny pan for pancakes. It is flat and rectangular instead of round like he uses when making other stuff like bacon," Sarah commented. She had been allowed to watch her older sister and father cooking while Natalia was in the lab so it made sense that she knew what pan was needed.

Sarah led her over to the cabinet where the pans were kept and they started pulling them out to find the funny looking pan. It didn't take much effort since Uncle Steve made pancakes a lot. Natalia got a big circular pan too because Uncle Steve always made bacon with pancakes and so they would probably need both. Natalia let Sarah put the rest back into cabinet like they were supposed to be. After that, Sarah said they would need a bowl too, to mix stuff in. This made sense, so they found a big bowl and put that on the counter as well.

Natalia had realized at this point that they would need to be higher up in order to do any mixing or cooking. She and Sarah worked to move two stools from the nearby bar over to the counter. It was just then that a wide-awake Ms. Milford got off the elevator. She laughed, congratulating them on getting some of the prep work done before she arrived. Ms. Milford set both girls on the stools they had moved over to the counter and then went about the kitchen, collecting the ingredients that they would need to make pancakes and bacon. When she had most of the ingredients on the counter, she suddenly started to look a little concerned and went through the higher up cabinets a few times before sighing.

"Well, that is no good. There's no flour. We can't make pancakes without flour," Ms. Milford pouted. "Sorry girls."

Bother Natalia and Sarah immediately protested, asking if there was anything that could be done, "Well… There is a nearby convenience store that was open when I was coming here. We could go and see if they have flour. Most of those places do have it, even if it is a bit more expensive then at a regular store."

"Are you certain that you can't find the flour?" FRIDAY asked.

"Positive. Pancakes are out of the question without it. Flour is the most important ingredient," Ms. Milford sighed.

"Then we have to go get it!" Sarah demanded. Natalia realized that she wanted to cook something for her daddy and papa as much as Natalia wanted to do for her own.

"Okay. Well, you two are dressed. Just need shoes I suppose," Ms. Milford didn't seem to have much issue with the idea and led them over to a shelf that had recently been installed holding all the kids' shoes.

Natalia worked quickly to put her own shoes on while Ms. Milford helped Sarah put hers on. Once they had their shoes on, they got on the elevator and FRIDAY brought them down to the lobby. Ms. Milford and the girls sneaked past the sleeping guard on duty with ease. Once they were out of the tower, all three giggled in excitement.

Ms. Milford picked up Sarah and held Natalia's hand as she walked them a few blocks away and then turned down an alley, "This is a short cut." She stated as she tugged a suddenly reluctant Natalia down it.

Natalia's instincts suddenly started screaming that something was wrong, "Let's turn back. We can make something else." She resisted against the grip that was growing a lot tighter.

"Nonsense. We're almost there. You said you wanted to make pancakes for you daddy," Ms. Milford pulled her harder now, the grip on Natalia's hand almost painful.

"No! I want to go home," Natalia screeched now, upsetting a nervous Sarah in the process, causing the younger girl to start struggling against the arm holding her to Ms. Milford's side.

The grip on her hand suddenly turned to absolute iron and Natalia could feel the bruise forming the instant another, much larger hand appeared out of the shadows to grab her upper arm in a tight grip, "Idiot girl, you are going home." The newly arrived man growled out.

"You only got two?" Another man appeared from the shadows.

"The most useful two," Ms. Milford snarled as she shoved Sarah into the man's arms. "And I did it without a fight. Much more than you can say."

Natalia was now fighting with all her might, " _NO! I won't go back! Daddy! Mommy! HELP!_ " She screeched frantically, realizing that these people were Hydra. Sarah was also struggling against the man holding her and screaming too.

"Oh! For fuck's sake, get them in the van!" A third man growled as he grabbed Natalia from the other two, he swore at the girl kicked out and bit his hand when he attempted to cover her mouth with it.

Before he could do more, something, or rather someone, hit him from behind, knocking him out cold. Natalia was shoved away from him in a flash by the mystery person and fell silent in her surprise. Less than two seconds later a sobbing Sarah was thumping next to her as the man who held her was unconscious. It was another few seconds before Ms. Milford and the third man were unconscious too.

The guy who had knocked them all out, was crouching in front of Natalia as soon as the last had fallen to the ground, "Shit! You two are the Avenger's kids! How did these lowlifes get their hands on you? Never mind. Let's get you two back to Avengers Tower before they tear apart the city looking for you two."

Sarah was in too much shock to fight the teenaged boy who picked her up and Natalia was in too much awe of her rescuer to argue with him. She was startled when he picked her up too and held her wrapped around his front while Sarah was on his back, "Hold tight you two. I gonna run just in case these guys wake up. The sooner you are back home, the safer you'll be."

Natalia clung to him tightly as he did exactly as he said he would and began running. Natalia felt something lighted bumping her legs for the few minutes while the teen sprinted them back to the tower. When he got there, he started swearing up a storm when he realized he couldn't get the doors open and started alternating between banging on the doors and trying to yank them open.

Natalia realized that FRIDAY was probably holding them shut with a magnetic lock, "FRIDAY! Let us it!" She yelled at the door over her shoulder and the teen fell backward a little as the door he was yanking on suddenly opened. Sarah was still crying as they entered to lobby which immediately woke the on-duty guard.

"I want Daddy! _Papa!_ " Sarah sobbed as she slid off the teen's back and thumped on the floor, her crying and screaming getting louder.

Natalia, glanced out towards the doors and in a strike of inspiration, "FRIDAY! Don't let Ms. Milford in! She's Hydra! And don't let this guy out! He saved us!" Natalia called out.

"Acknowledged, Ms. Stark. Your parents are on their way down," FRIDAY responded. Natalia silently noted that the AI sounded a bit annoyed.

The teenaged boy looked a bit panicked as the elevator popped open a few seconds later and most of the Avengers, in their sleepwear, were flooding out and rushing to the two girls. He pressed against the doors, once more attempting to get them to open only to find that, once more, they wouldn't. At first, the Avengers were focused on the two girls, most clustering around Sarah who was still sobbing, though now it was in her daddy's warm embrace. Natalia was the center of her Mommy, Daddy's and Bruce's attention.

Once their parents had made a cursory assessment of them to make sure they were okay, Natalia's daddy asked what happened. Natalia didn't hesitate to explain that she just wanted to make them breakfast and what had happened. The teen was still standing with his back pressed against the doors, hoping they would open, or maybe that he would phase through them, when Wanda and Pietro focused on him when Natalia pointed him out.

Before Natalia could blink, Pietro had the teen in a choke hold and Wanda was examining his mind, her hand glowing red near his head. The teen's eye's glazed over until Wanda pulled away, "He heard them crying for help and saved them. He is also terrified of us." Wanda announced while Pietro released the teen.

Peter had never imagined that he would be standing in Avengers tower under the full gaze of most of the Avengers, but then, he also had never imagined he would get bitten by a genetically modified spider. In all honesty, he had been dumpster diving for old computer parts when he heard the oddest argument he could imagine. At first, he had frozen in the dumpster he had been in because he heard a van enter the alley. He quietly had settled in to wait out the sudden arrivals out. While what he was doing wasn't technically illegal, a lot of people got a bit touchy if they realize you are going through their dumpsters.

He had come to Manhattan in hopes that he would find some lightly used tech that the wealthy had thrown out because they could afford to, maybe a perfectly good motherboard or five thrown out due to a broken screen. He had been having a bit of success too. A Blu-ray player and two laptops. No telling exactly what was wrong with them before he got home but it was usually an easy fix that the wealthy didn't bother with. Then, he could sell the repaired stuff to a pawn shop for a decent price. He was contemplating the prospect of getting a good windfall out of this when her heard the little girls start screaming.

When both made it clear they were being taken against their will, Peter realized that he couldn't not act. He was super powered after all. Sure, he hadn't managed much with it yet but he couldn't sit and listen to a couple of kids getting kidnapped in the early predawn. He grabbed a good, solid piece of chair leg that had been in the dumpster next to him and flipped out the dumpster as fast as possible.

He quickly brought the bit of wood up against the temple of the guy holding the girl screaming the loudest. It was only his reflexes the kept the man from crushing the poor girl as he fell to the ground. Peter then spun and took out the other guy with the second girl. This one went down as quickly as the first, still surprised by the attack. The other two, one of them a woman, were only slightly more prepared for his attack. All told, it was probably less than a minute between the time that he had exited the dumpster and the four would be kidnappers were out cold on the alley floor.

That was when he focused on the two girls. Peter nearly had a panic attack when he recognized them too. It would be hard not to, even in the dim light, his new powers made his sight good enough to recognize two of the faces that had been plastered all over the news since it first came out that the Avengers had kids, or some of them did at least. It was a little disconcerting how easily the two girls allowed him to gather them up considering that they were almost just kidnapped, but he pushed that aside as he figured maybe they trusted him because he just saved them.

He really didn't have a choice, when he thought about it. He had to get them back to the tower before someone else took it into their heads to kidnap the girls. Once they were securely holding onto him he picked up his nearby back pack that held his loot and ran for the tower, now really grateful for the strength that came from that blasted spider bite.

He was relieved that he got them to the tower with no issue right up until he couldn't get the damned doors to open. The kid clinging to his front screeched something at the building while he yanked on the door, it was a day of the week or something and suddenly the door popped open like it really should have when he first tried. He managed to regain his balance without falling on the ground, though with the two kids, it was a close thing. The girl on his back released him once they were in the lobby, plopping to the ground and crying for her fathers.

The one on his front also released him and Peter sighed in relief, slowly edging back to the door. The red-haired kid, Stark's he thought, was yelling the day Friday again and then giving an order to what he presumed what the on-duty guard that was apparently barely awake. Then the building started talking back, he made his first subtle attempt to open the door and leave only to realize it was once more shut tight, not opening for him.

When the Avengers came out of the elevator, Peter started to contemplate all the ways he could maybe escape if they didn't notice him. Maybe he could break the glass of the doors. Or maybe he could magically start phasing through things like that one guy, Vision, did. Fortunately, they were more focused on their kids than on him, that was until Stark's kid started telling them what happened. Then the Scarlet Witch and Quicksilver had him in their powers. He felt the flash of the Witch making him relive what happened before Quicksilver released him. Now it was his turn to thump to the ground. The next few minutes were fuzzy. When he really became aware again, his head was throbbing and there were people talking around him.

As he turned his head to look in the direction of the voices, Peter realized that it was full daylight out. That meant way more than a few minutes had passed, meaning he had blacked out. The next thing he realized was that Stark's kid was staring at him with avid curiosity. She smiled at him when she realized he was awake, before turning to look over her shoulder, "Daddy! Peter's awake!" Her shouting made his head throb even harder.

His groan brought an Asian woman forward, she held out some aspirin and a glass of water, "Here, take this. Wanda's powers tend to cause headaches, even when they aren't being used on you."

Peter sat up and took the pills and sipped the water to wash it down. As soon as the glass was taken by the woman, Stark's daughter was climbing into his lap, much to his surprise. The other little girl had joined her while he was sitting up and snuggled in next to him as well.

"Seems Natalia and Sarah have taken a liking to you. Not too surprising since you did save them from a kidnapping," Captain America sat in a chair near the couch he had been laying on.

"Ah… Yeah… That was just luck, really. I was dumpster diving for discarded tech. I collect it, repair it and sell if for spending money. When I heard the girls screaming… I guess the adrenaline kicked in and I took the kidnappers by surprise…" Peter shifted a bit uncomfortable under the gaze of the core members of the Avengers.

"You don't need to lie to us kid. Wanda pulled the incident from your head, along with a few other more… mentally guarded facts that explained the situation. Genetically modified spider bite? Definitely a new one," The Black Widow sat on the arm on the couch next to him as she spoke.

"I don't know what you're talking about?" Peter attempted weakly.

"Try again, Peter," Peter froze as his aunt came around from behind the couch. He started banging his head against the back of the couch as she sat opposite of him. "How long were you going to wait to tell me that you have super powers?"

"Aun-aunt May! What-what are you doing here?" Peter nearly squeaked out as she stared him down.

"Mr. Stark called me when he found your cellphone after you fainted. You still haven't answered my question. When were you going to tell me, Peter?" Aunt May stared at him in concern.

"Um… Never?" Peter cringed, knowing how bad it sounded but at the same time knew it would be worse if he tried to lie his way out of the situation.

May sighed before looking away and towards the other Avengers and then standing, "Okay, fine! It isn't like I can force him to stop without locking him in a very sturdy cage anyways. But you had better make sure he has the proper training to handle a fight and make his suit bullet proof at least, he's still only fifteen and the only family I have left. And Stark, I swear to God, if something happens to him, I will personally castrate you… With a rusty butter knife. Is that clear."

"Wait… What just happened," Peter asked but was mostly ignored by everyone.

"I know, you have threatened me with a butter knife three times already. Why haven't you threatened anyone else with one?" Tony asked, curious as he faced off with her.

"Because you are the only one of the Avengers that I stand a chance against in a fight… at least without your suit I stand a chance against you. Well… that and I am pretty convinced that it is your fault Peter is going the whole super hero route with his life. He's idolized you since you saved his life at the Stark Expo when he was seven. If not for you, he wouldn't be this crazy," May shrugged and took her seat across from Peter again. "If you get yourself killed, I will never forgive you. Is that clear? You let the others die before getting yourself killed if that's what it takes."

"That's a little dramatic, isn't it?" Captain America spoke again, his low voice startling Peter.

"Ms. Parker, I assure you, if Peter is ever in the field with us, we will do everything in our power to ensure that he isn't harmed," That was Hawkeye, Peter realized that they must have been talking his aunt around while he was unconscious.

"So… I can be Spider-man?" Peter asked uncertain but hopeful based on the conversation.

"I don't like it. I won't be happy about it… but you and I both know that you are as stubborn as your Uncle Ben was and that made him damn near insane," May responded.

"Yay! We get to keep Peter!" The red-head in Peter's lap cheered, accidently whacking him in the face with her upraised arms in the process.

"Well… not keep per say, Natalia. More like he will be coming to the tower frequently to train with Steve and Mommy," Stark corrected her though her excitement hadn't diminished.

"I want him to come to my birthday party! And Aunt May too!" Natalia declared.

"Careful there, Parker. If you aren't, Natalia might try to lock you up in her room to keep," Hawkeye chuckled.

Based on the glint in the almost four-year-old's eye, Peter suspected that Barton was right. After things were discussed a little more, Peter and May were both given Stark Phones for emergency use. Peter's had a calendar filled out with a schedule for the rest of the summer. It included five am wake-ups and him being at Avengers Tower by six for a two-hour training session with the Avengers before he began his day working as an Intern for Stark Industries.

Tony, Peter found that the Avengers didn't like being referred to by their super hero names, explained that Peter had to have a valid reason to be around the Tower so frequently and although officially he was an Intern for Stark Industries, in actually, he would be mostly just running errands for the Avengers that worked in the company. It would give him an opportunity to get to know the team and at the same time, no one would bat an eye at him being around the tower since Stark Industries had plenty of interns as a tech company.

After the explanations were completed, they took him on a tour around the tower. Tony made and offer for him and Aunt May to take a full floor apartment in the tower. Peter suspected that this wasn't the first one at May's expression and that Tony didn't press the issue. After the tour, they were brought back up to the common floor and Peter was able to grab his bag before he and May headed back to their Queens apartment.

When they got home, Peter escaped to his room, temporarily avoiding the long conversation that would be coming once his aunt got him cornered. He looked in his bag and found the tech he had collected had a companion in the form of a Stark Laptop in a protective sleeve. He examined it carefully and gaped when he realized that this wasn't a model on sale. It was clearly a custom build. What it did and its features remained to be seen but he suspected it did a lot more than the standard Stark laptop.


	19. Chapter 19

**This is a fan made story. I don't own the rights to Captain America, any of its characters or any characters within the MCU… Much to my disappointment. This will have some violent content and possible triggers. Steve/Bucky Established Relationship. Constructive criticism is welcome but if you don't like it simply because you don't like the line of thinking, please don't attack me for it.**

Chapter 19: Lessons Learnt

Tony had never realized how much he really depended on alcohol as a solution to his problems until he gave it up. He wasn't exactly regretting it, per say, just really wishing he had never become so dependent on the substance in the first place. Just another thing he could lay at the feet of his father, relying on alcohol as a crutch to suppress his emotions. In a way, he should be glad that he hadn't turned to drugs like so many other wealthy people did when they were bored or upset. As it was, as they talked to the aunt of their little discovery, Peter Parker, he couldn't help that some part of him wished that he could go to the bar nearby and find some bourbon to throw back.

The fact that that was his first instinct after learning that he had nearly lost the daughter he had only learnt about less than two months ago spoke volumes to him. It was clear that he was in for a struggle with his addiction. At least he knew enough to realize that it had been a problem, hind sight being twenty-twenty and all. He was just grateful that he had the team to back him up, although, even with all the stress he was facing, he wasn't really being tested because without and direct access to alcohol and safety precautions in place, he was smart enough to know that he wasn't going to get his hands on any.

Still, without alcohol to cope and little real experience dealing with his emotions, he was more than a little bit of an ass to May Parker. Of course, he knew that he was often an ass when drunk. It was just that normally, when Tony was drunk, he didn't care if he was being an ass. Now he did. That was another thing that he realized, looking back. Pepper, or fake Pepper as he liked to think of her, didn't really make him a better man or even want to be a better man. They didn't try to help him quit drinking or stop him from making inappropriate comments to others, often it was the exact opposite. They drank with him and some of her comments to women he had slept with in the past were even worse than the ones he had made to those same women.

He had recently started to go through all the footage of them, mostly to analysis the data and see if they, or specifically Jennifer Jenkins, had any mannerisms or features or habits that Detective Smith could use to track her if she used disguises to avoid getting caught. He noticed that both sisters had a habit of tearing down women that he had one-night stands with. They would call them trash, imply they were loose, easy or sluts and more than a few were told that if Tony contracted an STD from them that they would be hearing from his lawyers.

It occurred to him that a majority of his reputation as a love-'em and leave-'em kind of guy was probably thrown at him because of these two women. And now the one that was still alive was clearly as determined as ever to make his life a living hell. Peter had taken down the four would-be kidnappers but Tony and the rest highly doubted that he was the one to put a bullet in each of their heads after the fact. The van was wiped down too. Clearly someone was ensuring that the kidnappers weren't going to be traced back to them and the whole team suspected that that person's initials were J.J.

So, now he had to stand here negotiating with a fifteen-year-old's aunt to allow him and his team mates to teach the kid how to handle and survive as a super hero. He was threaten twice with castration during the discussions and she had even implied that he was indirectly responsible for her husband's death, though for now, he couldn't be certain what she meant by declaring that his 'half assed heroics were costing her family members left and right'.

Eventually, Natasha and Steve jump in and managed to smooth things over. They managed to calm May Parker down enough that she wasn't still screaming at him that Peter's behavior was his fault when the kid woke from his Wanda induced faint. He managed to get to the end of the visit with the Parkers with receiving only one more threat by the aunt before giving them a tour of the tower and Natalia inviting both to her birthday party in a few days. May Parker seemed to soften a little towards him when she noticed his interactions with his daughter, so he intended to have the little girl around for any future interactions with the firecracker of a woman.

They took the lead on the four bodies in the alley, the NYPD and FBI not wanting to touch the deaths of the kidnappers of two Avengers children. Instead, Hill and a team of her people were stripping the alley of everything within it, the wiped down van included. It wasn't until the Parkers left and Hill had the rest of the situation that the parents turned their attention to their children and to Tony's shock FRIDAY. Clint's older two kids were completely oblivious to what had gone down, having little interaction with Natalia the day before and all they could say was that Sarah was silly after she and Rebecca had talked with Natalia.

However, that aside, they sat all of the children on the couch and interrogated them thoroughly, "So, it wasn't your idea to get flour, initially? Ms. Milford implied that was the only way you would be able to make us breakfast?" Natasha asked carefully.

Natalia and Sarah nodded. FRIDAY than played the audio of the conversation. Tony and Natasha both groaned as they listened to the Hydra-Nanny skillfully play the two girls. In all honesty, Tony had taken to thinking of his daughter as are really small scientist because of massive intellect. He even knew that she craved his approval, just as he had craved his own father's. It was why he put so much effort into spending time with her and just doing bonding activities with her. He did with her all the things that he wished that his dad had taken the time to do with him.

He knelt before his daughter and carefully phrased his words, not wanting to sound harsh, like he knew he father would have, had he been in a similar situation, "I understand what you were trying to do, that you and Sarah really wanted to give Daddy and Mommy and your aunts and uncles a wonderful surprise by making us breakfast. I'm not angry about that. It was very thoughtful. I am, however, angry that you left the tower so early in the day, without Mommy or Daddy or your aunts or uncles regardless of your good intentions. I know that you thought that Ms. Milford would be a safe option to go with because she was hired to take care of you, but even if she wasn't Hydra, which she definitely was, she still wasn't someone who would have been able to protect you from three Hydra goons or three anyone trying to kidnap you. Do you understand?"

"We aren't supposed to leave the Tower without Daddy, Papa, aunties or uncles?" Sarah asked to be certain while Natalia nodded that she understood, though she still had tears in her eyes despite the gentleness of Tony's words.

"That's right, Sarah. You're not supposed to leave the tower without someone in the family with you. That goes for all of you. The Tower is like a big fortress, a castle. It's designed to keep everyone inside it safe. However, that said, there is always a chance that someone can figure out a way in, like Ms. Milford did, by tricking us. There is also the possibility that someone could storm this fortress. If that happens, we have an emergency protocol. When it is activated, all of you, and Auntie Laura, will go into special armored suits that Uncle Tony made that will take you all to another building that is designed like a fortress so you can be safe," Steve was crouching next to Tony now, looking his daughter in the eye.

"What about Daddy and Papa?" Sarah asked softly.

"If the Tower is attacked, Daddy and Papa, and your aunties and uncles will have to fight the bad guys to protect it and all the other people in the tower. You see, Uncle Tony can't make special suits for everyone in the tower or there would just be a tower full of suits. So, it is our job to makes sure everyone in this tower is okay and to do that we need to make sure that we aren't worrying about you. So, if that happens, don't fight it, get in the suit and let it take you to the other building," Steve was still gentle but stern.

"Why do you have to fight the bad people? Why can't someone else?" Sarah asked, determined to find a flaw.

"Because it's our job. Daddy, Papa, your Aunties and Uncles, we are the best fighters in the whole world, that makes everybody's safety our responsibility," Steve smiled softly at his daughter.

"Will it be Rebecca and Sarah and I's responsibility too?" Natalia asked, leaning forward.

"Only if you want it to be, sweetheart. It is your choice, just like it was our choice to be the protectors of our world," Natasha crouched on the other side of Tony and caressed her daughter's cheek as she spoke.

"Well, if Daddy and Mommy protect the world, I will too!" Natalia declared boldly. She grinned when she received smiles from both her parents.

"That is something you can decide when you are older. It is something you all can decide when you are older. Right now, you are just little kids, no matter how smart and clever you are," Steve smiled at all the kids. "But you understand why we are upset right? Why we are having this talk?"

"Because we were bad to leave the tower without Mommy or Daddy or one of our Aunts or Uncles," Natalia stated firmly.

"Yes, you were. However, I think that the scare you both got from almost getting kidnapped is going to be a very good reminder of why you shouldn't do that again, won't it?" Natasha was firm, looking Natalia in the eye.

"Yep! Not doing that again. Next time I want to surprise Daddy or Mommy I and getting Wanda and Pietro to help," Natalia responded firmly.

"Why's that?" Clint was curious now.

"Because the Hydra guys were beat up by Peter which means he was stronger than them and Wanda and Pietro beat up Peter so that means they are stronger than Peter, which means that they can handle more Hydra goons than Peter," Natalia reasoned.

"Now that is using your noggin. Though, Wanda and Pietro didn't beat Peter up. Pietro just made Peter stay still and Wanda used telepathy to look in Peter's mind to find out what happened. The reason Peter fainted was because sometimes Wanda's telepathy can be a little overwhelming," Clint explained.

"Oh. Well, she can still make all the bad guys go to sleep and that means she is the strongest and the best," Natalia reasoned.

"I won't argue with that logic," Steve stood and glanced at a blushing Wanda.

Tony, meanwhile, had sputtered at the implication that his daughter looked up to Wanda more than him. Wanda and Pietro offered to look after the children while Steve, Bucky, Tony and the rest discussed the situation in more depth. They went over every piece of their hiring process, looking for how they missed a Hydra plant. Eventually, they decided that the only way to guarantee there wouldn't be a repeat would be to have Dr. Culver, Dr. Corrin and Jason Thompson submit to a more thorough inspection by Wanda and any possible replacement for Sarah Milford as well.

Once they finished the discussion, Tony made a decision. FRIDAY obviously still had some flaws in her reasoning programs if she didn't at least check what was in the last shopping trip, how fast they went through flour, or if there was any footage of the last of the flour being used since some had been purchased. She also didn't suggest retrieving some from Steve and Bucky's floor as an alternative option. There had been a few other bugs, here and there from the AI but in the end, Tony had to determine that she really wasn't anywhere near the caliber of JARVIS. In short, he needed to develop a new AI to replace JARVIS.

It was a big project, but Stark Industries was well in hand with the assistance of the rest of the team and there hadn't been much in the way of missions of late. Over the past month Bucky had supplied a few more past missions as his mind sorted out and recovered from Hydra's influence, his missing pieces coming back as the damage was repaired, but none of it were more than confirmations of the paper reports they had pulled from the Siberian base.

Tony told the others of his plan and their response was that as long as he wasn't attempted to create something along the lines of Ultron, they had little issue with what AI was running their home. They did request that he keep an eye on any potential issues with it and to not rush the project as he had with Ultron. With this determined, Tony retrieved Natalia. She may have gotten out of her tutored lessons because of the near kidnapping but she wasn't getting out of her basic computer programing lessons. FRIDAY was good for at least that much.

Steve and Bucky, in turn, had decided that they had allowed their work to distract them a bit too much from their children. This, they determined, was why Sarah had been so eager to make them breakfast. It was her way of asking for attention. Thus, they collected their four children and brought them to their floor for some quality family time. Steve brought out a Monopoly board that he had purchased with the intent of teaching the kids about money and Bucky and Steve taught their daughters how to play the game while George and Joseph 'helped' by sitting in the fathers' laps and occasionally grabbed at game pieces to try and stick in their mouths. Steve and Bucky were quick to prevent the pieces from every reaching the boys' mouths though.

Peter had managed to get a decent analysis of the Stark laptop that had been snuck to him before Aunt May knocked on his door and asked him to join her in the living room. He reluctantly shut to laptop and did as asked. She gestured for him to sit before she began pacing in front of him a bit. She finally paused and sat across from him, "Peter, why didn't you tell me when you first… acquired… your… powers?"

Peter shifted uncomfortably. This really wasn't a conversation that he wanted to have. He stayed silent and she just stared back, waiting. It really was a good tactic, she had raised him since he was three, knew his every weakness, "I didn't want to worry you. You've already been through so much. You lost mom and dad to that car accident and then Uncle Ben in the Battle of New York and you are always telling me stuff like to avoid a dangerous situation if one is ever encounters. I just figured you would storm the Oscorp lab that the field trip was on and then all hell would break loose. You are a little over protective of me." Peter cringed, waiting for an explosion.

He wasn't ignorant in the slightest about his aunt's temper, he had seen it flare enough when she went into Mama Bear mode at the slightest threat towards Peter. It had actually gotten a little worse when his Uncle Ben had died.

Instead of an explosion, May sighed and slumped back into her seat, "Peter, I wouldn't have gone postal on that damned Oscorp lab, though I will now be reporting it to Stark so that he can have them investigated, thank you for that information. No need to have other people getting bitten by radioactive spiders. No, I would have been terrified of what would have happened if they found out about it. I mean, look at how the government treats Dr. Banner or the Black Widow and they have both saved us from major catastrophe. I may have stormed Avengers Tower with you in tow though so that the government couldn't get their hands on you though. I was seriously tempted by Stark's offer to move into the Tower. The only thing holding me back was that I didn't really have an excuse for it."

"I thought you hated the Avengers for what happened with Uncle Ben. I mean you didn't even get his body back, just his cremated remains and that was like six months after the battle," Peter was now genuinely confused. "I saw how much it tore you up to not even be able to bury Uncle Ben."

"I do _not_ hate the Avengers. It wasn't them that kept your uncle's body for so long. I never knew exactly how to explain this to you, you were only eleven at the time, but it wasn't the Avengers fault that your uncle died. I never blamed them, not really, I just needed something, someone to direct my rage at it. The Avengers didn't choose the location of the battle, they were there to answer the threat. They didn't open that portal that let all those Chitari through. They were saving human lives, not taking them. Ben was killed when a Chitari chariot landed on him briefly during the battle. The reason SHIELD kept his body for so long and then cremated it was because it took that long to process and identify everyone who died during the battle and your uncle's body was in such a bad state that they had to identify him by DNA.

"SHIELD and the Avengers both did a lot of work to clean up afterwards. You were with me at the hospital when I did all those surgeries to save the victims we could. I didn't get to submitting your uncle's DNA sample to SHIELD until three days after the battle. We were pretty low on the list of people reporting missing family. Thousands of people died Peter, I was angry but I do know who saved not only New York but the world from an alien invasion," May looked a little broken as she explained it to Peter a little better.

"So, you don't hate the Avengers?" Peter asked weakly.

"No. I'm not exactly a fan of Stark, he is an arrogant, reckless bastard with a nasty reputation when it comes to women, but that doesn't mean I have a personal vendetta against him or any of the others. Stark may be a bastard but he is also a real super hero and he has saved a lot of lives. Your uncle was a cop, Peter. He would roll over in his metaphorical grave or come back and haunt me as a ghost if I rejected what you are now," Peter could tell that his aunt was torn between her maternal instinct to protect the only child she has ever had and the knowledge that he isn't a little boy that needed protecting anymore.

"How much will you be comfortable with?" Peter asked, trying to ease her worries a little.

"Huh?" May raised an eyebrow at him.

"I am still going to be a hero, you said it, Uncle Ben would haunt us both if I ignored what I got, but I can try to keep it lowkey, at least until I'm an adult and better trained in the art of being a super hero," Peter offered.

"Well… can you keep it to low level criminals that don't stand a chance against you? Like idiot muggers in alleys or car jackers? The kind of guys that only carry knives and just look tough but will piss their pants and surrender as soon as they see you?" May asked, a weak smile on her face.

"I'll do you one better. You should try emotionally blackmailing Stark into making my super suit, the one he said he was going to make for me, of a polycarbonate fiber that they are developing for our troops. It is supposed to be bullet proof," Peter smirked.

"Now you're talkin'," May smiled a genuine smile at this. "So, what happened to the spider after it bit you?"

"It died. There shouldn't be any other spider people out there, if you are worrying about that," Peter answered with ease.

"Good to know. I am still talking to Stark about dealing with Oscorp though. I dislike that they just had that radioactive spider loose like that. If one got loose, more could," May was firm on this point.

"It was technically a genetically modified spider, not radioactive. I hacked their system after I got the powers to figure what happened to me. Also, you know it is Captain Rogers that is the leader of the Avengers and not Stark, right?" Peter had relaxed now that he knew that no explosion would be directed at him.

"True, but Captain Rogers isn't the tech wiz of the team and he isn't nearly as easy to scare as Stark is. A lesson in reality, know when to pick your battles. Rogers could crush me like a bug, Stark isn't so tough without his suit on," May smirked making Peter laugh. "Come on. I'm in the mood for Thai."

 **AN: So, just a general request for opinions on the topic, should I make Aunt May Tony's future love interest. I have taken a liking to the lady and think she could be his match. A bit of background info, I decided that May is a Pediatric Surgeon, thus she would have been in the hospital around the clock just after the Battle of New York, operating on the casualties and I imagine only catching short naps in the break room between operations.**

 **I also think that, given the magnitude of the event, she probably would have brought Peter with her to the hospital, if only because she wouldn't have had anyone to watch him in that kind of emergency situation. I just picture Peter doing little things like keeping the coffee pot full in the staff breakroom and helping keep the younger kids of the hospital staff distracted. That is my mental image at least.**


	20. Chapter 20

**This is a fan made story. I don't own the rights to Captain America, any of its characters or any characters within the MCU… Much to my disappointment. This will have some violent content and possible triggers. Steve/Bucky Established Relationship. Constructive criticism is welcome but if you don't like it simply because you don't like the line of thinking, please don't attack me for it.**

Chapter 20: Processing and the First Lesson

Tony had told Peter to come back the next day for his training. Peter did so, carefully slipping through the crowd of fans that stood outside the main entrance. He noticed a few of them attempted to open the doors only to fail to get them open. When he attempted, he was mildly surprised that he had no issues with it. He glanced behind him and pulled the door closed quickly as a group of fan girls rushed the door. They tried yanking it open and started screaming angrily when the door didn't open. Once he was in the lobby, he looked around and saw a receptionist and walked over to her.

"Ah… Hi. My name is Peter Parker. I am here to start my internship," He shuffled awkwardly as the woman glanced briefly at him.

"Right, Ms. Hill informed me about you. Bit unusual that someone that high up is interested in you. Where you a prospective SHIELD recruit or something?" She asked as she typed something into the computer in front of her.

"Ah… No. I'm just smart," Peter felt really awkward as he spoke.

"Oh. Another genius. That should be interesting. You can wait over there. Ms. Hill will be here shortly to get you your I.D. and security badge and what not," The receptionist waved him over to a few chairs scattered around the lobby.

Peter didn't even get a chance to sit down before a brunet woman came out of an elevator and called out to him, "Parker, right? Follow me."

Peter adjusted his back pack on his shoulder a little as he walked over to her. She seemed to be sizing him up as he walked and nodded firmly, "Sorry for the delay. I had to deal with the kids' nanny and tutors. Tony wanted a full body scan done on them after what happened yesterday." She spoke quietly.

Peter followed her through a door in the lobby and found himself in a small room, "Where am I going?"

"Oh, you can ignore this. We usually inspect people before letting them into the security area for the processing. I have to bring you in her so that the receptionist and the crowds outside think you are just a normal kid starting his internship," Hill fiddled with her phone, to allow for enough of a time lapse to prevent suspicion.

"But you won't do that with me?" Peter asked, confused.

"You are an Avengers recruit. They figured that it would be a bit unreasonable to treat someone who will be one of their own like a common civilian. Of course, I still have to finger print you and photograph you for your building I.D. so that you can access the right parts of the building but no one is going to bat an eyelash at you in the security department. We are all former SHIELD, have gone through the most vigorous vetting possible and we understand the need to keep a super hero's identity a secret. That should be long enough," Hill stated and waved for him to follow her back out of the room and to the elevator.

Once they were inside, Hill pushed a button that scanned her finger before placing her eye into a retinal scanner, "FRIDAY, you remember Peter Parker. Take us up to the security floor. He needs to get his official paperwork done."

"Of course, Ms. Hill. Welcome back Mr. Parker. It is good to know that the team will be increasing," FRIDAY responded as the elevator started to move.

"Did all the Avengers have to do this when they joined?" Peter asked, shifting slightly nervous.

"Not exactly. Though, they are all openly members of the Avengers. Your identity is being kept a strict secret under Steve's orders. He feels a bit guilty to be recruiting a kid but you are clearly already in the thick of it, with your work in Queens being all over YouTube," Hill commented. The elevator opened and Peter was surprised to see a room full of cubicles and very fit looking men and women at the desks or moving around the floor. "Follow me."

Peter glanced around curiously as they wove their way through the room of hundreds of people. Hill then led him through a door with a bunch of machines. The first was a camera, which Hill waved him to stand in front of. Peter smiled weakly and the camera flashed. Hill immediately pulled the chip in the camera out and shoved it into a computer.

"What are you doing?" Peter asked as Hill hit a few commands on the computer and the machine next to it whirred to life.

"Printing out your security badge. We have them made in house. It prevents the potential for counterfeiting. Over here now. We need to get your fingerprints and a retinal scan for you to be able to use the elevators on your own," She gestured over to another machine.

Peter walked over to it and she positioned his hands on a scanner. As soon as they were in the right spot, the machine began slowly scanning his hands, "Why both fingerprints and retinal scans? Wouldn't one do?"

"No, there is plenty of tech out there to copy fingerprints or mimic your retina. One or the other can be copied, but to get both, you have to have the person with both in your custody or be a better spy than Natasha," Hill responded blandly. She hit a few keys and what looked like a script popped up in front of Peter while his hands were still being scanned. "Read off the script. We need a vocal comparison for you as well, just in case there is a spy out there better than Natasha or you get captured."

"You guys really aren't taking any chances, huh?" Peter asked before he began reading the lines out loud.

When Peter finished, the hand scan was done. Hill moved him over to another machine and positioned him where his eyes were level with the scanner, "Try not to blink. No, we don't take any chances. This place needs to be one of the most secure buildings in the world. It contains the daughter of Tony Stark and Natasha Romanoff as well as the children of Captain America and the Winter Soldier. Imagine for a second the chaos that would have occurred had that kidnapping had succeeded."

"Fair point. I guess I was really in the right place at the right time," Peter responded as the scan finished and Hill gently pulled him away from the machine.

Peter blinked a few times and then glanced at the first machine that was supposed to be printing out his I.D. when Hill walked over to it. She picked up the card that was now sitting in the slot it had fallen into when it was done printing out. Peter noted that it was chipped and that she immediately put the card into _another_ computer and started tapping away at the keyboard. While she was putting data on the chip, Peter fiddled with his phone, checking Twitter and Facebook in boredom.

"All done," Hill commented as she pulled to badge from the slot in the computer and added a clip to it so that he could clip it to his clothing while he was in the tower. "Be careful not to lose that. It's encrypted but that doesn't mean that the government doesn't have people who can break the encryption if they work on it long enough."

Peter nodded and clipped it to his t-shirt while following Hill back to the elevator, "Now, put your thumb on the finger print scanner, eye to the retinal scanner and ask FRIDAY to take you to the Avengers' Gym."

Peter did as he instructed before awkwardly speaking, "Ah… FRIDAY? The Avengers' Gym… please?"

"Of course, Mr. Parker," FRIDAY responded and the elevator started moving down.

"The gym is in one of the sub-basements. I trust you brought a change of clothing?" Hill looked amused as she glanced at his bag.

"Yeah, figured it would be a good idea," Peter responded.

"Good. Oh, one more thing. You have access to both the public and private elevators. The first elevator we got onto was a public one but this one is the private. The public elevator doesn't go the Avengers' private floors, the private goes to all the floors. There is a hidden entrance that you can go through, now that you are in the system, that will give you access to the employee garage. Just so you don't have to deal with the crowds out front, I recommend leaving that way today so you know where to find it tomorrow," Hill finished just as the elevator doors opened. "Good luck."

Peter hesitated for a minute resulting in Hill pushing him out of the elevator. He stumbled out as every one of the Avengers stared at him. Peter wanted to cower a little when he noticed that Thor was looking at him with particular interest. When he finally reached the group, along with their children, he was feeling the nerves from the day before coming back full force. The presence of his aunt the day before had given Peter something else to focus on besides the fact that he had just been thrust into the world of the Avengers.

"So, this is the young man who aided Natalia and Sarah when they were accosted by Hydra?" Thor asked, eying Peter carefully when he reached them.

"Yep. Thor, this is Peter Parker, aka Spider-Man. We are going to be keeping his identity a close secret for now though, since he is still a kid," Steve Rogers responded before waving a couple of other people forward. "Peter, I also would like you to meet Col. James Rhodes, aka the War Machine or Iron Patriot, depending on who you ask and you weren't introduced to Bucky Barnes, my fiancé and the Winter Soldier yesterday either. Oh, and that is Sam Wilson, aka The Falcon. This is Rebecca, Bucky and I's oldest and over there by Clint are Cooper and Lilah, those are Clint's kids of course. They usually join us for our morning workout."

Peter waved at them weakly, "Um… where do I get changed?"

Clint smiled at Peter, realizing the boy was nearly quaking in his metaphorical boots, "Come on, I will show you where you can get changes. We do have a locker room down here, though only Rhodey uses it because the rest of us either live in the Tower or we don't really work out like normal people, like in the case of Thor." Clint led Peter over to a door that Peter hadn't noticed before.

Peter followed Clint into the locker room and glanced around, noticing that there were only a few lockers and none of them had locks on them, "No need for locks when you know everyone who is going to have access. This floor is for team work outs. Only the Avengers or Hill can access it. And one more thing, kid. The Avengers are a family, one that you and your aunt May are now a part of. Try not to be so tense. Think of it as having a bunch of older and wiser siblings. God knows that Steve and Tony are going to treat you like you're their kid. The important thing about family is that we stick together and have each other's backs, even when the going gets tough. You can come to us with anything. Understand?"

Peter was surprised by this. He had been thinking that when Tony said he was a recruit, an intern, that he would going through a sort of testing phase, to see if he had what it took to be one of them, apparently they saw it as him just needing training, "Uh… yeah. Okay, I guess that makes sense."

"Just relax. Today isn't even really going to be training. They just want to see what you can do. Steve is all about finding the right fit for everyone on the team," Clint smiled and left Peter to get trained.

It was a new feeling, to be automatically accepted into a fully formed group, especially one that that was clearly as tightly knit as the Avengers. As Peter thought about it, he realized that he wasn't the first person to be welcomed into the group after if formed, War Machine, Scarlet Witch, Quicksilver and Vision were all relatively new additions as well. Peter changed quickly, he had brought regular exercise clothing, not certain of what they would be doing.

When he got to his shoes, he hesitated, the costume he had made for himself had sock like boots because real shoes interfered with his ability to grip with his feet. It was odd, he wasn't certain why he could clingy to the walls with his hands and feet but anything too thick seemed to interfere with the clinging though. When he came out, he got more than a few raised eyebrows at the lack of shoes but shrugged it off. It wasn't like he needed them anyways.

"Forget your shoes?" Natalia asked, of course it would be the four-year-old to ask the question.

"No. Clint said that you wanted to see my powers. Thick layers, like the soles of my shoes, interfere with some of them. Since I don't have anything to substitute right now, I am going with my socks," Peter was quick to defend himself.

"What kind of powers make it so you can't wear shoes?" Sarah asked, confused. Her little face looked like she was thinking really hard to try to figure out what it might be.

Peter sighed and was glad that he was still near one of the gym walls. He turned to the wall and going with the show rather than tell method, began to climb the wall. He had to suppress the chuckle when the kids gasped. A glance over his shoulder once he was two-thirds up the wall showed that the Avengers all had thoughtful expressions on their faces. Clearly, they were thinking of how the power could be put to use.

"FRIDAY, design notes for Parker's suit. Thin fabrics are mandatory. Also, look into light weight cold weather gear. New York can get frigid in the winter, no need for him to suffer unnecessarily," Steve stated firmly.

"Understood, Steve," FRIDAY responded promptly.

"Okay, kid, what else do you got?" Steve asked, returning his attention to the teen still hanging out on the wall.

Peter held on with his feet and one hand as he twisted a bit away from the wall to activate the web shooters that he had designed and wore on his wrists constantly. The only reason he hadn't used them the day before was because he had naively hoped to get away without any questions if they weren't used. As soon as he had a solid web to swing on attached to the ceiling, he released the wall and swung down until he was at the lowest point and then released and landing in a crouch.

"Is that tech or did that web come from your web?" That was Natasha asking as she approached him, with Tony not far behind.

"It's tech. The web is based off a spider's web design, it is fluid in the cartridge but once it hits the air, it becomes solid. I go to Midtown Science, so access to the chemicals needed was pretty easy to get," Peter held up his wrists so that they could examine his web shooters.

Tony immediately unclipped one of them and tossed it to Bruce, "See if you improve the cartridge design, wouldn't want Parker falling from the sky because he doesn't have enough webbing. Parker, I need to know exactly what you put in your webbing. I want it to be thoroughly tested. Your aunt has threatened my genital several times already. I would rather she didn't attempt to go through with her threats if there was something I could have improved but didn't."

Peter was a little startled by the brisk manner in which Tony spoke to him but Natasha shrugged, "Alright, anything else?"

"Um… Well I have increased agility, speed, strength, stamina, can jump way further than any human should be able to, and Aunt May has commented on how I am eating enough for three teenagers?" Peter wasn't certain if that last one counted but he figured that it couldn't hurt to add it.

"Increased metabolism. Don't worry too much about that, Bucky, Thor, the kids and I all have the same thing. It is your body's way of coping with the requirements that come with all the extra strength and such. Bucky and I can't even get drunk unless Thor brings Asgardian Mead back on his trips home. I suspect, you probably won't be able to either. Ever get really hurt?" Steve asked, suddenly.

"Not since I got these powers. I mean, I stopped a car that was about to crash into a train a few months ago but I only got a little bruising from that," Peter shrugged, slowly growing a little more comfortable with the adults surrounding him.

"Stopped a car? Was it inching slowly closer to the rails after stopping because the brakes failed?" Sam asked, skeptical.

"No, the driver was texting and not paying attention. I think he was going 40 mph," Peter answered, shifting uncomfortably at that.

"What, are you made of steel too?" Sam asked, stunned that something like that was possible.

"I don't think so. I mean, I cut my finger last week when I was helping Aunt May cook dinner," Peter had shifted uncomfortably at the staring that was now occurring again.

"Oh, good. Wouldn't want to know you are too perfect," Clint quipped.

"Okay, so you stopped a car going average speed. That is impressive, I don't think I could do that. Do you know how strong you are?" Steve redirected the conversation to the task at hand.

"Not really. I mean, it isn't exactly like there was an easy way for me to measure my strength," Peter relaxed as they refocused.

"Alright, see that bench press over there? The weights on it are set to what is, for me, a light workout. It's 500 pounds. Go ahead and try lifting it," Steve pointed in the direction and Peter obeyed.

Peter only used one hand to lift the bar, well balanced, over his head. Sam, Clint and Rhodey all groaned. Tony shrugged, it was clear that if the kid could stop a car, he would have no issues with lifting 500 pounds. Steve directed Peter to put it down and added another 500 pounds to the bar. This was the max that the bar could handle without starting to bend, even if it was reinforced.

Peter once more effortlessly lifted the bar over his head with one hand. Steve was now impressed while Bucky started speaking to Natasha in Russian. They all stopped when Natalia approached Peter, "What kind of car was it that you stopped?"

"Hatchback. Why?" Peter was confused by the kid getting involved.

"That means your body can handle the impact of, at a conservative estimate, 11 tons of psi. Considering that the average human can lift only their own body weight and someone weighting the same as them, impacting at a much slower velocity would knock them backwards, which in this case didn't occur to you, we can estimate that at minimum, you can probably lift more than 11 tons," Natalia stated simplistically. "Though, we would have to test that somehow to be certain."

"Okay. So, safe to say the kid out classes all of us strength wise on a bad day then," Bucky stated, having gotten over his annoyance that Peter was clearly stronger than he and Steve were.

"Natalia said that was a conservative estimate. I am guessing, since it was only light bruising, we are looking at him being able to handle around 15 tons," Bruce added. "We should factor that in when looking to improve the tinsel strength of the webbing. If he is trying to say, stop a car from falling from a bridge, we wouldn't want the webbing to snap, even if he can catch the car, he can't fly, so that has to factored in."

"Which means the only one on the team stronger than him, is you, Bruce. Looks like we have a heavy hitter here," Steve pointed out.

The others nodded in agreement. Peter was a little surprised to realize that they were looking at him with a relative level of respect, which was odd considering his age compared to the rest. Natasha was the only one who looked like she was still analyzing him, "You didn't kill those Hydra goons. If you can handle that weight, killing them would have been as simple as swatting flies. How much strength did you use?"

"Um…" Peter was now extremely uncomfortable. The Black Widow was staring at him intensely. "Not much. Honestly, I have been trying to hold back as much as possible. I really don't want to kill anyone if it can be avoided."

Natasha and Steve both gave approving nods. Peter relaxed when he realized that they weren't judging him for not killing when he could have, but rather wanting to know why he didn't. Clint actually smiled at him for that response, "Smart move, kid. You take a life and that's something you won't ever get back, no matter how much you regret it. Take it from those of us who have our fair share of bodies that we've put in the ground. Don't kill unless it is the only way to ensure that the bad guy gets stopped."

Tony, Peter noticed, had flinched at them mention of bodies in the ground and Peter was a bit curious to know why. He didn't get a chance to ask, as Steve and Natasha began discussing how to account for his strength when training him. Natasha pointed out that since he had increased agility, they should focus on maximizing that as sometimes the best offense was an iron defense, an opponent that was worn down from failed attempts to make contact was much more likely to be subdued with less force than one that was still in prime condition.

From there, they started discussing agility regimes that could be used or adapted. Tony and Bruce shrugged, "Alight, I think that is it for the fitness nuts today, kid. They will probably spend the rest of the morning working out your training program, not that you will need much of one. With that level of strength, it doesn't matter how you punch a guy, he is going down hard."

"Probably why they are focusing on defensive rather than offensive. Sure, they can teach him a better fighting style or styles to use, but all the strength in the world isn't going to do you a damned bit of good if you get shot with a bullet," Bruce shrugged as they headed towards the locker room with Peter.

"You can get changed and meet us up in Bruce's labs. I want to keep your web shooters between the four of us. No need for the formula or an imitation to get out. Also, we want to figure out something to dissolve it quickly at need. We can market it to the cops, say we noticed your webbing and wanted to help them speed up the arresting process. That way if you detain someone of a criminal inclination the cops aren't waiting around for however long it takes for the webbing to dissolve," Tony stated, all business.

It was at this point that Peter realized that Stark's daughter, Natalia was following them. He stared down at her a little before responding to Tony, "On average, it takes about two hours to dissolve. I also already have something that can speed up the process. I kind of needed to make it when I kept webbing up my testing sight."

"Good. That will help," Natalia responded, just as business like as her father.

"You like helping your daddy work?" Peter decided to indulge the girl a little.

"Don't be ridiculous. Daddy's teaching me the important stuff I need to know to run Stark Industries one day. I'm not a stupid little kid that can't follow the information. My tutors say that my studies are on par with an undergraduate at MIT right now, though I am a little behind on history, but that is Hydra's fault for not teaching me and not because I can't learn it," Natalia was indignant enough to attempt to continue to follow Peter into the locker room but Tony stopped her at the door, earning him a huff.

"Go on and get changed. Once you're all set, just ask FRIDAY to take you to my labs," Bruce stated as Tony was already walking away, carrying his daughter, talking to her in a hushed tone.

Peter obeyed, figuring that this is where his real internship would begin. They had made it clear that it really would be an internship with Stark Industries, just a little extra on the side in the form of super hero training. He repeated what Hill had taught him earlier with the scanner, asking to be taken to Dr. Banner's labs.

He jumped a little when FRIDAY responded, "Of course, I feel I should inform you however, that now that your voice is in my programming, you only need to use the retina scanner and finger print scanner if you have a non-Avenger in the elevators with you."

"Um… Okay, good to know," Peter responded, just a little uncomfortable that the AI was interacting with him in a similar manner that a human would.

When he reached Dr. Banner's labs, he realized that he was standing in a specialized lab designed for Banner. The floor had just about every scientific piece of equipment out on the market and more than a few that were only allowed for people with Top Secret security clearance. That shouldn't surprise Peter though, since the Avengers were literally tasked with protecting the world from major threats.

"Peter, there you are. Come here. We set up this station over here for you. You are going to be Bruce's personal intern so you will likely be learning a lot more in a month here than you will in a year at Midtown Science. Bruce is the head of R&D so you are going to be learning all about the inner workings of the most vital parts of Stark Industries," Tony smiled at him as Peter reached the desk. It was set up with the latest in Stark computers, the screens were holographic and Peter couldn't help but smile a little in excitement.

"Normally, we wouldn't have an intern allowed into one of our labs, but we are making an exception for you, since your basically an Avengers Intern more than a Stark Industries one. I think I can trust you not to touch anything that I haven't taught you about, right?" Bruce looked at Peter expectantly.

"Of course. I understand how important all this equipment is. Plus, the stuff that Stark Industries does is remarkable, I will follow your orders to the letter, Dr. Banner," Peter was nervous and extremely excited at the same time.

"Good. Some of my personal research is delicate, so we don't want to make any mistakes. On that note, you don't have to call me Dr. Banner. Bruce is fine. Dr. Banner reminds me of a time when I was a little naïve when it came to the government," Bruce responded. "Or at least, since that level of informality would seem weird when we have other people around, call me Bruce when it is just the team.

Peter nodded, making a mental note not to call Bruce Dr. Banner when they were alone, "Okay. I can do that."

"Boss, Secretary Ross is in the lobby with a few assistants, requesting permission to come up," FRIDAY spoke up suddenly.

"Okay, let him know I will send someone down to get him immediately," Tony responded to the AI before turning to Peter. "You're up. This is the kind of thing that interns are here for, so Ross shouldn't think too much about it. Just act as if you're new at this. It should be easy since you are. Just bring him up here, he is probably just dropping off some documents we've requested. Oh, and stop down in security to get a few visitor's badges. I like making Ross uncomfortable by reminding him that he can't just walk all over the place here."

"Okay," Peter nodded, his adrenaline spiking at the instructions.

His first task as an intern was to escort the Secretary of State up to Bruce's labs. He took a deep breath and headed for the elevator, "FRIDAY, security floor, please."

"Certainly, and Mr. Parker, please remember to use the public elevators for Secretary Ross and his assistants. They will not understand why you have access to the private elevator," FRIDAY reminded Peter. He nodded and then confirmed it out loud, now thankful that the AI was giving advice.

Hill was waiting for him when he got off the elevator. She handed him three visitor's badges and waved him to the public elevators. Peter immediately went onto on that already had the doors open for him, "Lobby, please, FRIDAY."

It only took a few moments for the elevator to get to the lobby. Peter's heart was in his throat by this point. He took another deep breath as the doors opened and he got off. Immediately, he saw the Secretary of State and two men flanking him, holding boxes. He made a bee-line for them, knowing this was why he had been sent down.

"Secretary Ross, hi. I am Dr. Banner's intern, Peter Parker. Mr. Stark asked me to bring you up to the labs as that is where he is right now," Peter was stunned that he managed to get that out without it fumbling but Ross appeared to take it in stride. Peter held out the badges to Ross who gave him a light glare before taking them and clipping one on himself before clipping the other two on the men whose hands were full.

"Banner has an intern? What are you? A genius or something? Never mind, just get us to Stark. I want to get this over with sooner rather than later," Ross was gruff which just made Peter more nervous.

"Of- of course, sir. Right this way," Peter responded and led them over to the elevator that opened as they approached.

When they got onto the elevator, Ross spoke again, "How old are you kid? You don't look like you're college age. I thought Stark Industries took grad students for interns."

"I'm sixteen. Mr. Stark made an exception for me. I designed a formula to help break down the webs that Spider-Man uses and sent it in with my application," Peter was surprised how well he was speaking given the high of his nerves. Though, Aunt May had drilled that line into Peter's brain the night before, she didn't want anyone to be suspicious of Peter's internship and something like that would be considered suitably impressive enough to have an exception made. Peter quickly went through the process of the scanners and requested the labs after responding.

"So, you are a genius. Stark's probably going to corrupt you though. I really don't understand that man. One minute he is working hand-in-hand with the government to be as helpful as possible and the next he is borderline paranoid towards us. I suppose it just goes with the territory of being a super hero though," Ross dismissed it, eyeing Peter in a way that made Peter uncomfortable.

"I wouldn't know. Today's my first day," Peter blurted out, to get the man to stop staring.

"Well, if you end up not liking it here, I am sure I can pull a few strings to get you an Internship at a government connected lab," Ross stated as the elevator doors opened.

"Really, Ross? You couldn't even wait five minutes to attempt to poach our intern? He just started, doesn't know anything yet _and_ he and his guardian signed a non-disclosure agreement. If you are looking to steal someone, try one of the grad students down in payroll, I'm sure they would be happy to go with you," Tony snarked immediately, having heard Ross's line.

"None of them got an internship at sixteen though. I am intrigued by the kid," Ross commented as they got off the elevator. He waved at the two assistants to drop the boxes on one of the tables.

"Well, maybe they should have tried harder a little earlier. Peter's a smart kid. And he was assigned to me. I don't appreciate you attempting to get at my intern," It was Bruce speaking now. He was absolutely glaring death at Ross.

It was then that Peter remembered that the Harlem incident, as it was known, had a General Ross involved in it. He sidled away from Ross and the assistants just in case things got nasty. He didn't think that Bruce would Hulk out, but he didn't want to be in the middle of a verbal argument either. He stopped when he reached where Natalia had been standing.

"Don't get your panties in a bunch Banner. I didn't come to steal your intern, though he does peek curiosity, I am here to deliver the copies of the Sokovia Accords Stark requested. I don't know why he wanted so many but, whatever," Ross was glaring with equal violence towards Bruce.

"I requested that many because I wanted my team of lawyers to look them over. Also, I figured it would go faster for the team if they had their own copies, rather than passing around and sharing just one. These are very thick. Lot more than really should be involved with an international law that pertains to a total of fifteen people max, if you are including those that are independent of the Avengers," Tony had picked up the booklet that was indeed quite thick.

"That is because it pertains to all enhanced individuals, regardless of the side of the law they are one. It also covers what is being dubbed as 'super tech', things like your suits, Mr. Stark. Oh, I was supposed to tell you one more thing. They decided that since it was an international issue, you will be presenting your case to the full UN rather than just to Congress. The session will be in three weeks, you can bring anyone you want to argue on your behalf but remember that you are being allotted four hours to present your position before the full UN will be allowed to question all the Avengers. The hearing is expected to last a week since there are so many different nations that have questions for you," Ross looked smug, as if he dropped a bomb on Stark that he wasn't going to be prepared for.

"Oh, good. Looks like my contacts did manage to pull through after all. I will see you then Ross. Peter, please escort them back to the lobby," Tony's remark made Ross's expression fall.

Peter had to fight back a smile and noticed that Bruce had been doing the same. Peter led them back to the elevator. This time, Ross was silent, clearly fuming that it was Stark who now held the upper hand. As soon as the three government men stepped off the elevator, they handed Peter their visitor's badges and Ross stormed out of the tower, his assistants clearing a path through the crowds for him.

Peter just backed back into the elevator and asked to be taken back up to the labs. When he reached them, Tony waved him over, his nose already buried in one of the booklets the carried the Accords information.

"Peter, I want you to take a copy of this home to your aunt and one for yourself. Whether we like it or not, if this damned thing passes, it will affect you as well. We may have to send Bruce to Asgard to keep him out of Ross's hands as well if it passes. I don't doubt there is some clause about locking up enhanced individuals with limited control over their abilities," Tony was growling.

Peter picked up two copies, sliding them into his back pack. Bruce waved him over to his desk just as Hill arrived and grabbed the still unopened box, taking it down to, presumably, the legal department.

Once Bruce had Peter standing in front of him, he looked Peter in the eye seriously, "You may want to try convincing your aunt that moving into the tower would be a good idea if you want to maintain your privacy. I saw the way Ross was eyeing you. He has some major pull and he tends to want the best when it comes to everything. That is how I became the Hulk. He had me attempting to recreate the Super Soldier serum that was used on Steve, not that he told me what it was really for. You have a lot of potential when it comes to the sciences. Those web shooters are a very clear indicator of that. I don't want Ross even getting a chance to corner you."

"Bruce is right. Ross is all about the bottom line and he doesn't care how he gets there. Maybe we should offer May a job working under Helen. That way if Ross tries to coerce her to move to DC or something it won't work," Tony suggested.

"Is the Secretary of State really that horrible?" Peter was now extremely confused.

"Lesson one, kid. No matter what era you are living in, politicians are always only looking out for themselves. That makes them untrustworthy and very dangerous to people like us. If Ross found out what you were capable of, he would be salivating and chomping on the bit to get his hands on you and your DNA. The only thing keeping him from going after Bruce is that he would have New York rioting if he touched the Hulk. He is massively popular," Steve had appeared while they were talking, clearly coming for the other box of copies. "No doubt that the Accords are his way of attempting to get his hands on Bruce and the rest of us."

"Oh," Peter shifted uncomfortably. He knew that he wasn't as strong as the Hulk, but the others had already made it clear that after the Hulk, he was definitely the strongest. What was more is that, unlike Bruce, Peter had excellent control over his strength. In the months since he had started operating as Spider-Man, he hadn't accidently hurt a single person.

"Try not to get too worked up about it, Peter. We're all working on speeches for the UN and I was going to ask your aunt and a few other people that I know of to testify about the Battle of New York. With luck, we can nip this thing in the bud with most nations," Tony patted him on the shoulder. "Now, back to where we were before the interruption. Bruce was telling you not to touch anything until he's taught you to handle it properly. I am sure you two can have fun with that later. Now, we need to work on redesigning your suit so that it works more effectively for you."

Steve smiled at Peter before leaving with the box of copies and Peter was seated at his desk, told to slide his badge into the chip reader on the computer and Tony and Bruce immediately got to work talking him through the system. It was much more advanced than anything he had worked with before. Once they were done talking him through it. Tony set him to work on redesigning his Spider-Man costume to his exact needs before leaving with Natalia in tow. Bruce puttered around the labs for the rest of the day while Peter worked on his one task. Lunch was four chicken wraps brought down by Bucky and Peter ate while working.

At just after five, Bruce told him it was time to leave for the day. Peter had just finished his design so he saved it to a folder and then logged off. As he pushed away, he realized, he had really lost track of time, "What were you doing while I was working on the design of my suit?" Peter asked, realizing that he really hadn't talked to Bruce since he started.

"Analyzing your web shooter's mechanics. Did you finish designing your suit?" Bruce paused long enough to see Peter nod before continuing. "Good. We will send that over to development first thing tomorrow. Don't worry about your secret identity being revealed, the guys who are working on it used to be SHIELD lab techs. They won't know it's you and they won't talk about working on the suit. Tomorrow we will go over the formula that you used for the webbing and we can see how it can be improved. You aren't going to be looking at a limited supply of things to work with here, Peter. We will get the best webs developed that can be. High tinsel strength and flexibility will be our priorities, I think."

Peter nodded again as he shouldered his bag, "Okay, Bruce. See you tomorrow."

"Will do. Don't forget to give your aunt that copy of the Accords and talk to her about moving into the tower. I really don't trust Ross not to interfere," Bruce was serious as he spoke, only waving Peter away after he nodded his confirmation.

Peter got into the private elevator and it immediately started moving, "The hidden exit is through the garage. The other interns and daytime employees are leaving right now, so just try to blend in with them when you leave the elevator. Captain Rogers asks that I remind you that you are expected to be here at 5 am tomorrow morning for your training and that you eat a hearty breakfast." FRIDAY stated as the elevator moved.

When the elevator doors opened, Peter joined the crowd, following the flow. He was immediately relieved to have access to the private elevator, as the four public ones had all just released a flood of people when he exited, making it clear to Peter that they had to have been packed tight with people leaving for the day. He gripped his bag a little tighter and followed those who weren't going to their cars. They all went through a door that led to a tunnel, the end of the tunnel let out at another door that went directly into the subway.

When Peter glanced back at the door, he noticed a card reader right next to it, clearly intended for his work badge. Peter took note of where which platform it was before boarding the train he needed to get back to his place in Queens. As he thought about it, he realized that it was designed intentionally to be as convenient as possible for Stark Industries employees that didn't have cars.

By the time he got home it was almost six. His aunt was going to be home from the hospital for another hour, so Peter ordered Chinese for them, knowing that she would be too tired after her two scheduled surgeries that day to do any cooking. The Chinese arrived just before his aunt did and she gave him a tired smile when she noticed the food on the table while he got the plates and chopsticks out.

"So, care to tell me why I got a call from Natasha Romanoff today, asking me to reconsider moving into Stark Tower and asking me to give a speech to the UN about the Battle of New York, and then a call from Dr. Helen Cho, the world's foremost expert on reconstructive surgery, offering me a job as her chief Pediatric surgeon?" May asked, sitting down and dishing out the food for herself while Peter got glasses of lemonade for them both.

"Uh… the Secretary of State might have shown up at the Tower today and was curious about be because I was Bruce's intern. He even offered to get me an internship with a government funded lab 'if I didn't like working at Stark Industries'. I guess it spooked Tony and Bruce a bit. I got a lecture on how I can't trust politicians because they will do anything to get their own agenda done," Peter stated as he filled his plate and started in on it immediately.

"Hmm… Tell them I will give it serious thought. They are right about trusting the government, Peter. You are the only family I have left. I am not going to let you become some lab rat because of your powers. Did you mention your eating habits to them?" May asked. She had become a bit concerned about Peter's need for massive calorie intake without him gaining any weight. It simply wasn't natural.

"Yeah. Steve said it is probably that my metabolism was upped to keep up with the demands that the powers place on my body. The others who have the increased strength and stuff have the same needs. Apparently, even Steve and Bucky's kids have a higher metabolism rate and so does Natalia," Peter answered between bites, lunch felt like it had been hours ago.

May nodded as she ate, "I suppose that makes sense. I guess it is a relief that there is a legit reason for you needing that much food. I've already reworked the budget to account for it, but it will probably increase a little more now that you are going to be more actively burning off the energy."

Peter nodded with his mouth full. Once he swallowed, he spoke, "Oh, and Tony said to give you a copy of the Sokovia Accords, that is why they need you to testify for the UN. They want people who experienced the Battle of New York and the aftermath to be testifying on their behalf. Apparently, the governments of the world are considering putting serious restrictions on powered people."

May frowned, knowing that if something like that came out, it could put Peter in serious risk of becoming the lab rat that she refused to allow him to become. She determined, then and there, that she would lie through her teeth if it meant keeping Peter safe, not that she would have to. She was intelligent enough to know that without the Avengers, things would have been a million times worse than it had been.

"Let Stark know that I will testify, Natasha said it was in three weeks? I will let the hospital director know. He can't really complain about giving me a day off if it is to speak before the UN, though, he might offer his own opinions on what I should say. The entire hospital really respects the Avengers. They came by a week after the battle to visit with all the injured kids and Stark paid all the medical bills for everyone in the hospital," May stated. Peter nodded, he remembered hearing about it from his aunt when it had first happened. After they finished eating, Peter retrieved his aunt's copy before settling down to start reading through his own while in bed.

He fell asleep two pages in, the writing style was so dull.


	21. Chapter 21

**This is a fan made story. I don't own the rights to Captain America, any of its characters or any characters within the MCU… Much to my disappointment. This will have some violent content and possible triggers. Steve/Bucky Established Relationship. Constructive criticism is welcome but if you don't like it simply because you don't like the line of thinking, please don't attack me for it.**

 **I Am SO SORRY for the delay. I got a very nasty cold, followed by my father almost dying and requiring open heart surgery twice and when all that chaos was over, Thanksgiving popped up out of nowhere and as my day job is a baker, I was buried under the work load of literally (and I mean that in the strongest sense of the word of literal) thousands of pies. Good news is that I have a week of vacation now so hopefully I can pound out a few chapters to catch up.**

Chapter 21: Moving

One Week Later

If anyone had told May Parker three weeks previously that her nephew was a super hero, she would get a job offer from Tony Stark, and that she would going to buy moving boxes because she accepted said job offer which required her to move into Stark Tower, she would have laughed like a mad woman and then referred them to Dr. Rakish who headed the Mental Health ward. Now? She wasn't sure she didn't need to be committed. As it was, the job offer was really something that only a mad man would reject, but also one only the truly deranged would accept without her exact situation occurring.

Tony, he had insisted on her calling him that, had offered to have her apartment packed up for her but she soundly rejected the idea. This was her home of the past five years. The apartment she had been forced to find when she couldn't afford her old one without her late husband's second income. As May picked up packing supplies, she took a brief second to almost resent Tony. If he hadn't been so damned flamboyant with his super heroizing, maybe Oscorp wouldn't have created that damned spider. She dropped that line of thinking quickly though. The type of technology that Oscorp had used for making that spider had been in development since Peter was a baby. The goal they had, much like with Dr. Banner, was to recreate the Super Soldier program.

Ironically, according to Steve and Tony, Peter was stronger than any Avenger other than Banner and Thor. Once more, May was extremely grateful that if Peter's powers had to be discovered, and they did have to be discovered at some point, they were found out by the Avengers, a group that understood that just maybe a super powered 15-year-old boy needed to be kept as quiet as possible for now. May sighed as she finished getting everything she needed for the packing process. She had already talked to the hospital and while they were understandably upset, the promise of a Regen Cradle a full year before it went on the market smoothed over any ruffled feathers about taking their top Pediatric surgeon.

Knowing what she did of Tony, May wasn't surprised this morning when the Hospital Director called her and said thanks to her for accepting the offer having the Cradle already being installed in his Trauma Unit. As a result of this, she now had a week to pack everything before taking up her new job for Tony Stark as Director of ECHO. She still wasn't certain she bought into his 'ECHO was already in the planning phase' argument but it did make some sense that the Avengers would need to create something like that to help with good PR. Every Crisis Hospital Organization, May had to admit that Stark had a way with acronyms, even if they were a little forced to sound elegant.

She bought the packing supplies and then quickly shoved them into her trunk. If her estimate was right, she had three days, if she was lucky, to get everything packed before Tony lost his patience and sent a team to finish the job for her. She got home as quickly as possible when living in New York City given the traffic. Once inside the apartment, May dropped everything on the kitchen table before going through a short mental debate. That debate ended with the living room being the best starting spot. With this, she prepped two smallish boxes and immediately started loading them with the books on the shelves. From there she moved on to the everything else in the room excepting the TV, though even it's cords were packed with everything that went with it.

After the living room, May went to her room and packed everything that wouldn't be essential within the next few days, including most of her clothing. She paused briefly for lunch before entering Peter's room and immediately groaned. Of course, her 15-year-old nephew wasn't going to have anything organized or clean. May dropped a few boxes on the floor and began to process of sorting and packing at the same time. Electronics in one box, books in a second, toys in a third, and clothing going into the hamper like they should have in the first place. When the hamper was full, she brought it down the hall to the laundry room and started a load, grateful that in the middle of the day, no one was around to hassle her about it.

She went back to packing, pausing to switch the clothing to the drier and then fold and pack them away with the rest of his stuff. By the time Peter got home from his 'internship', he found his room nearly empty except for boxes, some trash bags and his aunt stripping the empty top bunk of his bunk bed.

"Take out that trash. Honestly, I have no idea how you managed to accumulate this much crap in your room, Peter. Also, move these boxes out with the rest in the living room," May didn't even turn around as she stretched to pull the sheet off.

Peter sighed, realizing that every corner of his room had likely been searched by his aunt. A glance up revealed the ceiling tile slightly out of place and he groaned. He may not have had to hide his uniform, old homemade one or new, from her anymore but the fact that she found the old one so easily was a little unsettling. Peter moved to do as ordered, noting that all the boxes were neatly labeled. He would need to sort through the 'electronics' box which was likely mostly crap, but his aunt wouldn't know good from bad.

He grabbed the bags of trash to bring down to the dumpster and did what he was told. Before he could enter the building, his senses shot to high alert. He glanced around a few times, looking high and low before spotting a glint in a window. He allowed his eyes to adjust slightly and realized that it was someone with a camera and groaned. He went back into the building and ran up the stairs.

Once he was back in his apartment, Peter, casually walked to his room, moved them into the living room and strategically stacked them in front of the window there. When his aunt came out with the last box from his room, Peter waved her over to the blind space he had created and held up a piece up paper, 'We're being watched' he had quickly scribbled and then pointed to the window. May mercifully didn't speak, edged to the window that was mostly blocked by the boxes and shifted the blinds enough to peak out. She saw the same glint and sighed.

She picked up the pad of paper and pen and wrote quickly, 'Get Tony to send movers to grab everything tomorrow. We are mostly packed away.' Peter nodded and pulled out his new Stark Phone. Tony had smirked and told Peter that it was completely secure. He texted Tony that he could send the movers in the morning as his aunt was tired of packing already. There was barely a three second delay before he got a response of 'Knew she'd cave'. Peter responded that someone was watching them and got an angry face emoji and was told to play it cool. Peter started engaging his aunt in talk about her new job and her progress on the packing, making an emphase on how it was surprising that she had gotten it all done so quickly.

May realized what he was doing and let him lead the conversation through eating take out. She was more than little upset by the clear surveillance on her home but given the three highly placed job offers she had received in the past week by government run medical facilities, all of which were away from New York, May realized that it was likely the doing of Ross. Why he got so obsessed so fast, she couldn't say. It was extremely unsettling that he had resorted to such methods so quickly. She was almost damned certain that he couldn't have managed to get a warrant for that surveillance team across the street meaning that he was violating their right to privacy and the law.

May's concern only increased when, just after they finished eating, Natasha and Bucky showed up and took to writing on the pad of paper that Peter and May used when they wanted to keep what they really needed to say. 'It's Ross. Tony had a drone scan the building and there are wireless signals coming from your apartment.' Natasha wrote neatly. 'We will stay the night to make sure he doesn't try anything. He doesn't have a warrant for this, we checked. In the meantime, pretend we aren't here. Just get what ever else needs to be packed up and the movers will be here first thing.'

May nodded her understanding, anger clear on her face now with the realization that Ross was likely insane and willing to do whatever he could to get information on the Avengers. May made a vocal show, of telling Peter she wanted to be packed completely before the movers got there in the morning, so they needed to pack up the kitchen after cleaning up dinner. Natasha gave an approving nod when Peter reacted with a groan and complained like a normal teenager would. Part of his training had been espionage with Natasha and the boy was surprisingly good at lying if he wasn't worked up.

Bucky and Natasha helped them, moving silently and out of sight of the windows, rush through the packing of the rest of the apartment. After they finished, Peter and May were waved off to sleep. Natasha and Bucky set up a watch of the surveillance team. Neither of them felt it worth mentioning that Steve and Clint were on the roof of the building, keeping an eye on the streets. It was the first time that Natasha really could appreciate the need for sharing the parental responsibilities between then entire family. Laura was overseeing a 'sleep over' for all the kids, and Vision had offered to watch the twins since they still didn't sleep through the night and he didn't need sleep at all.

The next eight hours were dull. The surveillance team was lazy and obvious, which is probably why a teenager spotted them. Natasha wouldn't even be surprised if they had set up shop earlier the same day they got spotted. At least she knew that her training for the kid was sinking in. He was using his senses, not letting his guard down. At seven a.m. on the dot, a moving truck rolled up to the building. May and Peter were already awake, dressed and ready to go as soon as the 'movers' knocked on the door. Each and every one of them were security personal that Natasha recognized. No one was taking any chances. Peter and May helped, carrying boxes down while the team handled the furniture.

By ten a.m. the truck was loaded. Peter and May got into May's car and drove to Stark Tower. There was no problem with the employee entrance opening up and then May's car was parked in the Avengers' garage. It was only when they were safely in the building that the team relaxed. Of course, the eight hours weren't a complete waste, while Bucky had watched the surveillance team, Natasha had searched every inch of the apartment and found every listening device placed with the furniture. All the packed boxes would need to be scanned before being moved into their apartment as well.

FRIDAY took May and Peter directly to the common floor where the remaining team members were waiting. Tony wore a massive smirk, "Ross made a big mistake with his latest move. At the very least he is going to be forced to resign when this gets out, worst, he is looking at serious jail time. Secretary of State or not, he had _no_ warrant and _no_ grounds for surveilling private citizens. My money is on it being because Peter is Bruce's intern. Ross is insanely obsessed with Bruce. The Hulk is the white whale to Ross's Ahab. My drones took readings and photographs of that surveillance team, that with the bugs that are CIA standard issue and the highjacked audio feed from your apartment, I got him."

Steve rolled his eyes but couldn't argue. Ross hadn't just stepped over the line, he had violated basic legal rights. Not even the Patriot Act covered that level of surveillance without valid evidence of terrorist activity and neither Peter nor May fell under that category. It was midafternoon before they finished scanning everything and finding all the listening devices. By the time that they finished, May was just about ready to storm the White House herself and tell the President that not only was Ross a liability, he was a threat to National Security with his obsessions with Dr. Banner. Natasha had to talk her down and urged her to channel all that rage into writing her speech for the UN session and working with Helen to find suitable doctors for ECHO.

May calmed a little bit while working on her speech when she glanced at Tony as he spoke on a conference call with several senators and state representatives about Ross. Tony's near childlike glee couldn't help but make May smile a little. Peter had disappeared a while ago to train and it was just her, Steve and Laura also on the main floor. Everyone else had disappeared to their own jobs that were less mobile.

May noted that the people that Tony were speaking with were the ones with probably the cleanest records in government. They were the ones that supported universal health care and had backed the Avengers after they saved everyone in the Battle of New York. They were the people, mostly Democrats, that focused on trying to change things for the better. More than a few of them absolutely hated Ross and the information that he had violated someone's right to privacy to such an extreme extent was both disturbing and music to their ears.

Peter was summoned part way through the meeting to explain that he had noticed because of a glint of light catching on a camera. At some point, a few federal judges, one from the supreme court, and the Attorney General joined them. The meeting ended with the Attorney General assuring Tony he would bring it to the President's immediate attention. Tony in turn promised to have all the evidence delivered to his office by Natasha first thing in the morning.

There had been over a dozen mentions of a special prosecutor being assigned to investigate the situation and the depth of Ross's corruption. There was even a request that Dr. Banner document the entirety of his interactions with Ross along with listing names of every person that might be willing to testify against him. Tony had even given them a starting point of Dr. Elizabeth Ross, Secretary Ross's own daughter who had worked with Bruce on the project that turned him into the Hulk.

Once Tony finished, he disappeared as well. Bucky appeared with Rebecca and began cooking with the little girl. Almost immediately, May's mouth began to water. She wasn't much of a cook, that had always been Ben's area of skill, half the reason she married him. Once the cooking started, May's progress halted.

"How frequent are the home cooked meals?" She asked Steve and Laura.

"Steve and Bucky prefer to cook when it is an option. Why?" Laura responded, setting aside her work and helping set up the table.

"Because if Tony had included that in his original offer to move into the Tower, I probably would have broken much sooner. It's a shame they're gay. I have a total weakness for a guy that can cook well. It's how Peter's uncle managed to win me over," May shrugged and gave up altogether on her speech.

"Huh. Good to know. May Parker, greatest weakness, good food," Tony sounded from behind her, his daughter clinging to his hand.

"Oh, that isn't my only weakness, just the one that is likely to lure me in," May commented.

Peter laughed at that, "No kidding. The two guys Aunt May has attempted to date since Uncle Ben died were both chefs. Neither lasted long though. They couldn't really handle dating a woman smarter and had custody of a kid."

Tony smirked, "Well, I am certainly not intimidated by an intelligent woman, I got I kid of my own and yours is pretty okay, and I can keep you in close proximity to not only Steve and Bucky's cooking but there isn't a restaurant in the world that I can't get a reservation to. Is that enough to earn a date?"

May laughed. Tony had been flirting with her the full week they had been negotiating her working for him. For some reason, the man didn't lose interest even when she had been cold, "Well, it is a start, though I still don't like you that much." May's response made Tony pout.

By the time Bucky and Rebecca had finished making dinner, pot stickers, veggie rolls, sushi rolls and fried and white rice, everyone had returned and the table was set with the necessary utensils. May proposed to Bucky after dinner and was rejected on grounds of her not being Steve. Tony pointed out that she still had him and got a slap to the back of the head from Natasha. When they returned to their floor, Peter and May realized they still needed to unpack and their beds had been replaced with much nicer beds. May curled up happily in probably the most comfortable bed she had ever had, not that that was saying much since her old bed had been beyond worn down. The nigh before hadn't given much rest so she fell asleep almost instantly.

 **So, I am going to assume that in the Avengers Universe, they would never elect such a shit president like ours and given the circumstances at least a small chunk of the government would be pro super-heroes after something like the Battle of New York. Thus, I am going the route that the president it Pro-super heroes and so most of his administration is. This would also explain Ross being Secretary of State since he has personal experience dealing with them. I am going to give this fictional President the benefit of the doubt and say that Ross lied through his teeth to get the position and the Army covered up much of Ross's exploits to conceal the fact that they were involved in essentially illegal human experimentation that resulted in the Hulk.**


	22. Chapter 22

**This is a fan made story. I don't own the rights to Captain America, any of its characters or any characters within the MCU… Much to my disappointment. This will have some violent content and possible triggers. Steve/Bucky Established Relationship. Constructive criticism is welcome but if you don't like it simply because you don't like the line of thinking, please don't attack me for it.**

 **AN: I am really sorry about all the delays. My life has been a bit crazy lately. My dad has been in and out of the hospital multiple times the past few months, my work hours have been all over the place and to top it all off, writers block is my ultimate nemesis. Such is life though. This chapter took way too long to write as a result (yes, I have been trying to write this chapter for like four months, so sorry).**

Chapter 22: Birthday Surprise

Once Peter and May had moved into the tower, everyone else noticed a distinct shift in Tony's behavior. The man, who normally had to be dragged from the labs for non-Natalia related things, had made a habit of working on his paperwork on the common floor quite frequently. Steve and Laura weren't complaining because it meant that Tony was _doing_ his paperwork rather than just having them sign it for him. Bruce had to all but ban Tony from stealing Peter from him as an intern too. Bruce had figured out swiftly that Peter was going to prove extremely useful to him, rather than just a cover for the teen's training.

Although Peter was a kid, he was a kid with a genius level IQ and really should be in a college at the least. The kid also had him looking at things in new angles which he couldn't help but appreciate. Peter even learned how to manage the equipment as easy as breathing. Of course, Tony would want to steal him. Bruce had rebuffed Tony by pointing out that he had his daughter to bounce ideas off of and could allow Bruce a mentee as well.

The rest were looking on with amusement at the shift in behavior. It was clearly because May and Helen had taken up working on the main floor when selecting candidates for the ECHO program. It was also clear as day that the he had it bad for May. It was strange, Tony had never focused in on a single woman before Pepper and even with the collective pair that had been Pepper Pots, Tony's attention still wandered, he still flirted.

This seemed to be different, in the two days that had passed, more than a few people had come in for interviews with May and Helen and plenty of the options were attractive but Tony hadn't even batted an eye at them. He had, instead, seemed to take it as a way to prove his interest was sincere when it came to May. He completely ignored them beyond a professional interest and more than a few of the women had tried to flirt.

They did take a brief break though, halfway through the week for Natalia's birthday. The now four-year-old girl had requested an Alice in Wonderland themed party, which Tony had gone overboard to provide. There were even assigned costumes. Natalia was naturally Alice, Natasha was the Queen of Hearts, Peter was the Mad Hatter at Natalia's insistence, Tony was the March Hare, Steve and Bucky were Tweedle Dee and Tweedle Dumb, Wanda was the White Queen and so on and so forth. It was all rather amusing as far as the adults were concerned.

It was going exactly how a four-year-old's fantasy birthday should go too. The cake was a three-tiered monstrosity that looked like it had come from Wonderland, they had a massive tea party and there was a massive pile of presents, mainly from Tony, for Natalia. Her miniature car had been finished and was situated in a position of honor. Everyone had just gotten past singing Happy Birthday to the now four-year-old when the assemble alert went off.

Tony immediately started to swear a blue streak, much to the amusement of the children. Steve sighed and didn't even bother attempting to admonish Tony, the kids were giggling too hard to be heard. Instead, he took an assessing look and made a split-second decision, "Alright, Bruce, Peter, get the kids, May, Laura and Helen down to the bunker behind the Hulk room. Peter, suit up. Bruce, you don't need to Hulk out unless there is an attempt on the tower but you two position yourselves in the Hulk room. Everyone else, suit up. FRIDAY, what is the situation report?"

The straightforward orders confused more than a few people, "You think this might be a distraction?" Natasha asked as they all headed for the elevator."

"Chicago has both insurgents and drones attacking Willis Tower, Millennium Park and Union Station. By appearances, they are Hydra. Their motives are, as of yet undetermined," FRIDAY responded to Steve's request.

Steve gave a knowing look to Natasha as they walked, "Casualties?"

"An estimated ten dead and thirty injured, though the numbers will increase if response isn't immediate, Captain," FRIDAY responded.

"With no known motives? Yeah, we leave the heavy hitters here. FRIDAY inform all staff we are on lock down. Get suited up people," Steve ordered.

Peter was more than a little startled, he looked to Bruce, whose face was grim. As the pair herded the kids and non-Avengers into the elevator he tried to process orders, "If Steve is expecting an attack on the tower, why is the team going to Chicago?"

"You can't leave one point weak for any enemy to exploit. If the Avengers don't show up when they are needed, we will be on shaky ground with the UN session next week. They will question why. They can leave us behind because I definitely won't be needed to deal with ground troops and drones. The big guy isn't exactly precise like will be needed for this one. Hulk is more of a smash his way through the massive flying ship or fight the robot army tool, not a pick out the goons from a crowd of flee civilians type. And since no one even knows that Spider-Man is in with us now, they have no way of knowing that you could even be called in, for all that you would probably be useful for the drones," It was Rebecca who responded, getting odd looks from all the adults.

"Well, you're not wrong, kind of surprising you would know that though," Bruce stated, looking at the little girl.

"Hydra was trying to turn me into a weapon. Ironically, they used a lot of material that I now know was from Daddy and Papa's WWII campaign tactics books. They must have gotten it from Peggy Carter's and Howard Stark's position while they were a part of SHIELD. The funniest part is that they never did learn how to use it or to understand that way of thinking. They are so used to the Hulk being used as back up, they have to think they will be coming at a building without and Avengers to defend it," Rebecca stated as the elevator doors finally opened into the underground level that that Hulk room was located on.

"How did you understand it if your teachers didn't?" Peter asked as they walked into the hulk out room.

"Our normal teachers didn't teach it to me. They had daddy teach me the handbook. I think that is part of why his programing broke down so easily. They were having him teach me his real way of thinking. It must have made something reconnect," Rebecca shrugged as Bruce keyed in a code to a door in the wall.

They all entered a comfortable looking room with couches, T.V.s and computers. Off to the side, Bruce opened a small door that revealed Peter's new suit and a pair of stretchy pants for Bruce to wear in the case that he had to Hulk out. They left the room, Bruce securing the door as they exited.

"We can change out here, no need to traumatize the kids or your aunt," Bruce stated before he started to strip.

Peter looked wide-eyed at Bruce as he started to remove the costume before jolting to action and doing the same. They tossed they costumes into what looked to be a closet. Peter hadn't put his mask on yet, looking to Bruce who had started pacing nervously.

"What's the situation report, FRIDAY?" Peter asked, his anxiety ratcheting up, once he realized that this would likely be his first time encountering a true fight. Before this, his only experience in a fight was back alley muggers and the incident that had led him here with the attempted kidnapping.

"The Boss had already arrived in Chicago and is dealing with the drones. The remainder of the team is less than a minute out. Avengers Tower is in full lockdown mode. All standard employees have been secured in designated safe zones and the security staff are currently patrolling all vulnerable floors of the Tower. The casualties in Chicago are currently estimated at forty dead and one-hundred injured," FRIDAY's response had Peter's nerves at full alert.

"You really think that Hydra would kill that many people just to get at the kids?" Peter asked Bruce whose eyes had turned green, a sign that he was on the edge of a Hulk out.

"Hydra, sure they would. Ross had higher standards than they do, and he was willing to destroy a college campus to get ahold of me," Bruce's voice had dropped into a deeper tone, another sign he was teetering.

Peter was about to ask FRIDAY to patch them into the team's coms when the power went out. He tugged on his mask which fortunately activated immediately, one thing that they didn't need was night vision since Peter had already developed the ability along with his other spider-based abilities. A glance to where Bruce was led to the odd experience of watching the man go into full Hulk which had him turning massive. Something he hadn't really had the opportunity to appreciate from the news footage.

"Hey big guy, nice to meet you. Can you see or is it too dark for you?" Peter decided that he had to have conversation as they were waiting for the intruders.

"HULK SEE FINE!" Hulk responded indignantly.

Peter chuckled slightly, but not wanting to anger the giant, "Good to hear. You know what we are expecting right? Hydra goons. I am going to try to capture them if we can, okay? We will need to know what their goal is. Can you keep any from hurting me?"

"THAT EASY. GOAL IS TINY HUMANS. THEY WANT HURT THEM. HULK SMASH ANY WHO HURT TINY RED OR TINY CUPIDS… OR TINY, TINY HUMANS," Hulk nodded knowingly, and Peter had to force himself not to laugh and focus on the elevator doors.

"Babies. They're called babies, or I guess in Sarah's case, toddler," Peter supplied. Hulk snorted but nodded again.

They fell silent for a few seconds before they heard banging on the other side of the elevator doors and Peter raised his arms, ready to activate his web-shooters as soon as people started coming through. Just then he got an amusing thought, launched a bit of web to the ceiling to climb and swung himself up until he could position himself upside-down, hanging on by his feet. A glance at Hulk revealed the green giant approved.

Just after that the elevator doors finally opened to reveal the elevator shaft and bunch of goons that swung themselves into the room, only to be confronted by the Hulk, Peter laughed when one guy actually screamed before he started unleashing webs to pin them to the floor which resulted in confusion and pandemonium as more than one person just entering tripped over their fellow, which Peter took advantage of, webbing them down on top of the other. His highest stack got to five guys before no more came through.

Peter dropped down just as the lights came back on and started laughing at the stacks of idiots in tactical gear pinned to the floor, "Hey, Hulk, do you think they underestimated us?" Peter asked with way too much amusement in his voice.

"HULK THINK GOONS DUMB, ALWAYS LOOK UP," Hulk responded bluntly.

Peter burst into another round of laughter at the statement. The elevator finally came down to their level and out rushed the Avengers, only to pause to see Peter rolling on the floor laughing, Hulk with a smirk and the stacks of goons pinned by webbing.

"How?" Tony asked, seriously confused by the stack that was five high. Peter just turned into an even bigger mess of laughter, clutching his gut from laughing so hard.

Natasha rolled her eyes and went over to Hulk who immediately allowed the 'lullaby' to occur. Once Bruce was back, even he couldn't resist a chuckle at the sight. At Steve's questioning look, Bruce shrugged, "The big guy let Peter handle it all. Didn't even lift a finger."

"And the stacks?" Bucky questioned while Steve and Natasha went to open the bunker door.

"Du-dumbasses… the dumbasses didn't take advantage of their night-vision goggles and kept tripping over each other. I just hit them with web as they went down. We need a picture to commemorate it," Peter finally got control of his laughter and stood, though he didn't take off the mask. He hadn't actually knocked any of the goons out and the lot were either struggling pointlessly or groaning in resignation at the sight of the Avengers.

The elevator returned with a security team led by Hill, "Huh, so the Spider-brat makes a pretty good babysitter after all. Was it the kids' idea to have pig piles? Oh well, Tony, we have another two dozen catch throughout the building secured in our holding cells. Those Icer rounds that you snagged from the SHIELD records are damned useful, Natasha. Idiots all dropped like rocks regardless of where we hit them. This is going on twitter though." Hill stated this all before snapping a picture with her phone of the biggest stack which was the one the Peter happened to be standing next to.

She smirked as she posted it with the words 'When you get Spider-Man as a babysitter and some idiots decide to throw a party at your house #PigPile #AvengersRule'. Once she finished she looked at Tony, "So, how is that formula to dissolve this stuff coming?"

Peter jumped into action at that, "I'll get it. It's in the labs." His voice held a pitch the indicated he was flustered.

Natalia and the other kids had been let out of the bunker by now and were looking at the piles of goons with giggles. When Cooper attempted to go over and harass one of them, Clint took control and herded them all into the returning elevator, "I am just going to get the kids back up to the main floor. They can finish their cake. We will wait for presents until you guys finish up here."

Once the children were removed, Helen, May and Laura following, the humor drained from the room. Peter returned with what amounted to a large spray bottle. Hill and the security team circled around the piles as Peter sprayed them and the webbing melted away. They didn't even give the men and women time to react, simply shooting them with icer rounds and stripping them of all weapons. There were a full three dozen in this group and they were all dragged into the elevators and brought up to the security floor holding cells.

"So, no shots were fired on this floor?" Tony asked once the last were gone.

"No, I think they were all too startled by the Hulk being here to fire, or maybe too afraid of what would happen if they shot at him and since Peter was hanging from the ceiling, they didn't know he was here until it was too late, and they were pinned. They were probably confused, to be honest," Bruce responded.

"Good. Good work Peter, smart move, going to the ceiling. That's the kind of tactical thinking I like to see. Now let's get back to the kids. Natalia is probably dying to open her presents," Steve stated. "You might as well stay in your suit, no point in changing now. The costume part was pretty much ruined when half of us had to rip off ours to get into our suits in time."

"You can't honestly believe that getting out of a Victorian era style dress is easy. That was a monstrosity. There was legitimately no other way getting out of it quickly," Natasha responded with a death glare.

"No joke and it wasn't exactly as if we could have lingered either, or worse, gone into a fight with what amounts to ballgowns," Wanda seconded with a blush, it had been her powers that had shredded both gowns, her own being the White Queen costume.

Tony was snickering. Bucky rolled his eyes at the indignation of the women. By this time, they reached the main floor and found all the kids contently eating cake. They all gathered around to join in. Natalia didn't seem to mind that they were in uniforms, sans Tony who ditched his armor to reveal he still had his March Hare suit underneath, though it was a bit rumpled.

After that was presents, which had a gleeful four-year-old shredding wrapping paper to reveal stacks of books, both in non-fiction topics she enjoyed studying and in fictional works that were the necessary read of any young child, science kits, her own personalized tool set, laser tag gear and nerf guns, water guns and to everyone's confusion, a potato gun, which Tony stated was something he would explain some later time. May and Steve were clearing away the wrapping paper when FRIDAY spoke up.

"Boss, we have an incoming call from unknown origin," FRIDAY announced bringing immediate tension to the room.

Tony hesitated before looking to Steve who nodded, "Connect it." His voice was strained, hoping that it wasn't who he thought it was.

Tony's hopes were dashed when the cloying tones of fake Pepper, real Jennifer Jenkins, was heard by all, "Tony, did you miss me? Did you enjoy my little birthday present for our darling Iron Princess? Natalia is what you named her, correct? You really shouldn't have allowed Natasha name the girl. That awful woman will corrupt my dear girl."

Tony's initial look had been rage but quickly morphed into amusement when he noted the narrowed look on May's face. He laughed at the last comment, " _Your dear girl?_ You do realize that Natalia isn't your child biologically nor did you even give birth to her, so how was she _your girl_? You do realize you sound more than a little deranged right? Was it losing your twin sister that did it? If you didn't kill her yourself that is. Blunt force trauma to the back of the head is what the coroner said."

"She _is_ my girl. All of them are _my_ children. Well, Amelia's but she was my identical twin which means they are just as genetically mine as they were hers. Besides, you've known about them for what? A few months. I was there for their births. I helped organize their educations, their care, without Amelia and myself, those children wouldn't exist," Jennifer Jenkins snapped. "And I _will_ get them back. For all that the control words no longer work on the Soldier."

"Ah, so you were surveilling the fight, huh? Listening in? Yeah, Wanda removed every bit of programing in my head. And Bitch, they aren't yours, if they were, they wouldn't be so damn happy here. Want to know something funny? They let us know where they were. They hacked your computers and put their files out to all the Hydra databases because they heard the Avengers were taking them down. That _wanted_ us to come get them. You know what that means? No matter the upbringing or training you tried to instill in _our kids_ , blood won out. They were just too much like their parents to break to your way of thinking," Bucky barked a bitter laugh as he tugged Rebecca close. "Just like the littlest of exposure to Rebecca woke me up, we are too strong to fold to you and we never will."

Steve smiled as he picked up Sarah, "That is because you all still fail to understand the basics of reality. Love does conquer all, as clique as that sounds. It broke through your brain washing twice. Once for a daughter and once for a lover. Oh, and all your little pawns, we took them all alive. I don't know if it was because you don't still give them those cyanide capsules or because they just didn't want to die but we will be having some fun with the interrogations."

"You'll never win. Cut off one head and two will replace them," Jennifer growled out angrily.

"Good thing we've learnt that if you cauterize the neck after cutting off the head, none grow back. Also, you guys have got your symbol wrong. I have been wanting to point that out. You have a Kraken, Many legs, one head, as your symbol not a Hydra. Hydras don't look like octopus, they look like a many headed serpent. You guys aren't smart if you can't understand your basic Greek Mythology, damn, it was even in that Disney Hercules movie," Bruce added in, he wasn't above taunting. "Also, your many heads got taken out by a newbie, so not that good in a fight."

"Пошел ты, сука," Natalia shouted.

"The call has been disconnected, Boss," FRIDAY announced.

Natasha had her head in her hand, shoulders shaking. Tony looked at her in concern, "You okay there?"

Natasha burst into laughter, her control gone. She scooped up her daughter and hugged her tight, "Yeah, though the insult fest got a little excessive."

"Yeah, what exactly did Natalia say at the end?" Steve looked confused, his confusion was compounded but Bucky bursting into laughter as well.

"She said, and this is a direct quote, 'fuck you, bitch' in Russian," Clint responded, smiling in amusement.

"Well, now that that is dealt with, shall we get to back to the party?" Tony asked.

Everyone agreed, and the rest of the afternoon devolved into a massive, multi-floor nerf battle. Tony did slip away briefly to contact Detective Smith about Jennifer Jenkins contacting him as well as the infiltration and attempted kidnapping of the kids. The Detective stated that she was going to have to turn the case over to the FBI as it had gotten way above her pay grade but would put the agent in charge in contact with Tony as soon as she found out who it was.

 **Пошел ты,** **сука = Fuck you, bitch (again curtesy of google translate)**


	23. Chapter 23

**This is a fan made story. I don't own the rights to Captain America, any of its characters or any characters within the MCU… Much to my disappointment. This will have some violent content and possible triggers. Steve/Bucky Established Relationship. Constructive criticism is welcome but if you don't like it simply because you don't like the line of thinking, please don't attack me for it.**

Chapter 23: United Nations

The day after Natalia's birthday saw a team of FBI agents at the Tower escorting the dozens of Hydra thugs out of the building and Tony willingly handed over copies of the call from the day before along with all the information he had gathered on the Jenkins twins. The agent in charge, Agent John Burnly wasn't an idiot and knew he had to treat the situation delicately.

"We appreciate the Avengers assistance in this investigation, as well as the cooperation with the government in general. You don't suppose that you could put us in contact with this… Spider-Man, could you? You obviously know who it is since you're using him as a babysitter," Agent Burnly stated.

"Sorry, his identity isn't relevant to your investigation. I did get his statement for you though, so you don't need to worry about that," Tony's response made it clear that he wouldn't be screwing around.

"We would really rather get it in person, if you don't mind," Agent Burnly responded politely.

"Actually, I do mind. You see, I won't be giving you his identity and unfortunately for you, he is a minor and as such, can't be questioned without a guardian present and well, I know for a fact that his guardian won't allow it, so this is the best I can do for you," Tony handed the FBI agent the statement.

"You used a minor to capture Hydra operatives?" Burnly looked annoyed and skeptical.

"No, I used a minor as a babysitter while we were out on a mission. Bruce was supposed to deal with any risks if they came up. We didn't realize that the babysitter would assist, though if you think about it, that is really the purpose of babysitters. Keep the kids safe, that kind of thing. Well, if that will be all," Tony smiled. He knew that Burnly really couldn't push.

"You know, I heard that there were going to be new laws about superheroes being put under regulation. I could just wait until then to get his identity," Burnly pointed out.

" _If_ they pass. Which they won't if I have anything to say about it. We work to protect everyone. Not just those that the lobbyists who fund Congress say we should. The Avengers defend the world and we are no one's puppets," Tony's voice had gone cold. "We've actually read what the Accords propose. Did you know, that if the Accords had been in place before the Battle of New York, New York would have just been nuked rather than sending the Avengers in. That's around 8.5 Million lives we saved, at minimum. Tell me were you and your family living in New York then? Never mind, I can see by your expression that you were. Your welcome."

Burnly had gone deathly pale. He nodded, "Thanks for the statement. We will be in touch if we need something more. I trust you can get more in-depth answers from… Spider-Man if we need them?"

"Certainly. Glad we understand each other. Try not to think about it too much. We will make sure those laws don't pass. No need to worry, they won't be ordering nukes on any civilian populations under attack as long as we can help it," Tony stated bluntly.

Burnly left, more than a little shaken. He could still remember that speck in the sky the went into the wormhole just before the Chitari fell dead and the report had been that Iron Man had gone in and back out. He now realized there was more to it. He had that final puzzle piece. _Why_ Iron Man had gone through it. To redirect a nuke. He shook off the shock and redirected his focus to where it needed to be. His superiors at the FBI wouldn't be happy that he couldn't get Spider-Man's identity, but to be honest, they hadn't really been expecting him to succeed there. No, his priority was Dr. Jennifer Jenkins. A task force was already being assembled which he would be heading up. The woman was classified as extremely intelligent and dangerous.

The rest of the week passed in a flurry of activity as everyone prepared for the UN meeting. Natalia, Rebecca and Cooper had been doing research on gods only know what for the opening speech for the group. It had been decided that the kids would get to start it off because ultimately, if these laws passed, it would affect them longer than any of the others.

Rebecca and Cooper were arguing over little details while Natalia pounded away pulling up information. Sarah, who wouldn't be speaking, three was a bit _too_ young to gain real attention, was helping as much as possible as well. It was interesting for all the adults to have to sit down with the three-year-old and answer questions about details of their pasts. The little girl had a small, custom laptop that Tony had made for her out and typed away as fast as her little fingers could handle after the interviews with them that she transcribed from the recording FRIDAY made for her. This she passed off to Natalia, Rebecca and Cooper, who distilled it into what they needed for the speeches.

Come the Monday morning that would open the UN session assembled specifically to discuss the Accords, the adults scrambled to have the kids dressed properly. Peter and Ned tugged at ties, being brought along to assist the kids with their speeches. As they filed into the SUVs taking them to the UN, the two teens pushed the posters for the presentation into the back of one carefully.

The trip to the UN was uneventful, no one was stupid enough to attack the full might of the Avengers all at once. The trip through security was interesting when it came to Bucky's arm but there was little that could be done about it. Thankfully, if Natasha and Clint slipped weapons through security, they did so without anyone the wiser. The group carefully herded the children to the spot that had been designated for them. May looked around with interest, knowing that shortly these people would be judging her for her new alliance with the Avengers. Thankfully, Helen was next to her and no one could question either of their credentials.

ECHO was still new and not yet fully operational, but May was still the director of it. She eased into her seat next to Helen and watched as some of the most powerful men and women in the world filed into the massive room and began taking seats. It was a good half hour before the UN Session was called to order. When it did, a few dignitaries made some speeches that lasted an hour before the Avengers were allowed their opening speeches. A good range of emotion was shown when it was Cooper, Rebecca and Natalia that came to the forefront when they were informed they could begin. Peter and Ned were behind them with the posters.

Natalia was the first to walk forward. Ned positioned a stepstool for her so that she could get high enough to speak into the mic. She smiled, "We are here to discuss the fate of not just the Avengers but of all gifted individuals in the world. As such, my father, Tony Stark, thought it would be best to remind everyone here just who those individuals are exactly. So, we are going to start at the beginning and work our way through chronologically. Thus, we will start with the story of the First Avenger, Captain Steven Rogers, aka Captain America, and what he has done for both the United State and the world."

From here Natalia started out with Steve's medical history, his determination to serve during WWII despite it and all the things he accomplished in that time until he was frozen. She paused before finishing with Steve, "The estimated total of lives Captain Rogers saved, including those that would have been taken if the Valkyrie had been successful in launching its bombs… estimated between 25 million and 30 million civilians as every major city in the world was targeted. This included Berlin, Tokyo, London, New York and Paris."

Natalia stepped down and moved away to make room for Cooper who went over Bucky's short tenure as a Howling Commando, though his number of lives saved was included with Steve's. Then they moved on to the rest. Each of the three children rotating through for the back stories and numbers. Natasha's Red Room past made the Russian Ambassador shift uncomfortably, but so did Bucky's time as a Hydra prisoner. Ross looked ready to pass out when Rebecca went over how Bruce had become the Hulk and the Harlem incident. Then, they moved on to the Battle of New York, Tony's redirecting the nuke directed at New York by the world security council and the Avengers' attempts to stop Loki.

The entire room was watching the children with intensity that could barely be rivaled. More than a few had already begun to realize how stupid the Accords sounded when compared to the facts. The reasons the Avengers were so successful _because_ they didn't answer to any government. By the time the three kids had gotten through their history lesson to the Ultron Incident and Sokovia, most were looking at it within the full picture, rather than out of context in the anger of the moment as they had been before. When the kids were finished, there was still two hours left. At this point Steve came forward and started bringing in people to make their own speeches, giving their perspectives.

May was the first of ten people to make her position clear. She had lost her husband in the Battle of New York, but she would be damned if she let that cloud her judgement. She told of the two days she had spent alternating with other surgeons to save as many people as possible and that Stark had paid off all the hospital bills of those injured in the attack, a pertant detail that most people weren't aware of. After her came another doctor, a waitress, a mother from Sokovia, two cops, one from New York, the other from Sokovia, and four other people who had witnessed the events in Greenwich, England and DC. One of the two people from DC was Sharon Carter, who had moved on from SHIELD to the CIA.

It was clear that they had picked the speakers carefully. The range of experiences kept people aware of how many were influenced and saved by the Avengers. These people weren't politicians, they were the common man. The experience was poignant. After this, they broke for a recess and lunch. Tony smirked, knowing that Ross was likely to be trying to find a way to spin things to make the Avengers look bad, but in all honesty, Tony was the only one he could truly attack and given the events of the Harlem incident, Ross would be better served relocating to Malta, a none-UN, isolationist country with non-extradition, than he was by going after Tony's mistakes. After all, Tony at least worked to fix his mistakes. Ross, left it to the person he had been persecuting to fix his.

May found herself with more than a few people interested in her position as the head of ECHO. It was an interesting experience to find herself at the center of the focus. Most were curious about the objectives of ECHO and if it was limited to a medical crew to patch up after Avengers where in action.

"Of course not. ECHO is intended to be used for _all_ crisis, be it supervillains, natural disaster, epidemics or terror attacks. Our purpose is to help those who need it most, regardless of the cause," May responded to the representative of Japan.

"So, you will be working with WHO and Doctors without Borders?" The French representative asked.

"Of course. I suspect in most cases that is where we will be once we have fully established ourselves," May answered. "After all, The Avengers are hardly called into action daily. ECHO is intended to put its efforts to help with all crisis situations. It is just being funded by a billionaire and being given all the latest technology _as_ it comes out. We aren't fully operational yet because we are still looking for the best options when it comes to our full staff of medical personnel. It isn't exactly easy to find surgeons, doctors and nurses who can handle working in what amounts to a mobile hospital."

The representatives that surrounded her accepted this and then started to question her on why she was opposed to the Accords even though they wouldn't affect her. May's expression was thunderous, "You really think that keeping the Avengers or other super hero's like for example, Spider-Man, on a leash is going to save lives? And tell me, Mr. LeFontine, if the Avengers got advanced warning that say… Hydra was planning a major biological attack in Paris and wanted to stop it before it occurred but whoever was backing the Russian and Chinese representatives on the council at the time thought that it would be best if the Avengers were only reactionary and not proactive because they had to go into and manage an operation in South Africa to prevent the materials intended to use in that attack from being stolen, how would you feel about the council then?

"Mr. Zang, how would you feel if a group of terrorists decided that Hong Kong would be the best place to test out a new killer robot, but the oversight council viewed that as an internal rebellion matter and not an Avengers matter, how would you feel? It was pointed out, I will remind you, that when Aliens attacked New York, the World Security Council thought the best option would be to just nuke a population of 8.5 million people, my husband, my nephew and myself included. Believe me when I say that these Accords don't just affect the Avengers and the random powered individuals that have been popping up recently.

"They affect everyone because when you interject bureaucracy into saving lives and the people calling the shots have no idea what the fight on the ground is like, when it isn't their own lives at stake, they are willing to take idiotically drastic measures," She knew that she had them on the ropes based on their expressions.

"But what about Sokovia? There _has to be_ accountability!" The Russian representative argued.

"Sokovia happened because I thought that I had a better understanding of alien technology than I did and because of a flawed program that I designed. If anyone should be held accountable for Ultron and the deaths in Sokovia, it is me, no one else," Tony stepped in to save May from being buried under politicians who were all too eager to interrogate her.

"And how do you intend to make reparations for those events?" Mr. LeFontine asked, eyebrow raised.

"I've already begun. I have been pouring money into helping those who lost their homes and livelihoods in that city, I have paid medical expenses for all the injured and I have even paid out money for loss of life to those who lost family members. I know that isn't enough though, because money doesn't make the pain go away, because you can't put a price on human life. I was attempting to create Ultron with good intentions but that doesn't alter what he did.

"So, now I am making something different, something that will _only_ be capable of helping and not hurting. That's what ECHO is. It's why I created it. I may not be able to get back the lives lost from the incident in Sokovia, but I can make damned sure that as many people as possible will be helped in natural disasters, epidemics and, yes, attacks by villainous or criminal organizations," Tony finished off with one last bit. "In fact, just to drive home that point, my R & D department has started on collaborative efforts to help with cures for HIV, Ebola, Denga Fever, Tuberculous and other infectious diseases."

Most of the representatives were surprised by this information but it did drive home the point that Tony was attempting to make, he was willing to put his money where his mouth was and pay his dues. Just then, they were called back into session, much to May's relief. Still, she could hardly complain about Stark's efforts to atone for his actions.

Once they were in, it was obvious that the seating had changed to put the Avengers at the forefront and everyone else was behind them to watch and possible be called forward for a question or three. The remainder of the day was a long and filled with questions from various nations being fed through translators. Tuesday was more of the same, only the children were left at home with their Nannies, Laura and Peter.

A lot of the nations were focusing on Tony, because of his heavy involvement with most of the events that had occurred. Still, most of the UN was incredulous about the things that Ross attempted to pin on both him and Bruce.

"I'm sorry, Secretary Ross, are you implying that I had anything to do with the _treason_ committed by our former Vice President to kidnap and murder, in a big fiery manner, the President during the Mandarin incident? If I recall correctly, and this can be confirmed by Col. James Rhodes, the second we were aware of the threat to the President, we contacted the Vice President, who, at the time, we had no idea was involved with Aldridge Killian.

"Then I personally sent one of my suits to rescue the president. Unfortunately, by that point it was too late as he had already been taken but I did manage to save the flight crew that had been jettisoned from Air Force One by one of Killian's goons. I would also like to make the point that those goons were all military Vets that received minimal to no care from the U.S. Government which is why they were willing to subject themselves to AIM's experiments and also that the U.S. Government was using them as a military contractor at the time. So, tell me again, how your failure to vet your contractors, and not even for the first time I will add, is my fault?" Tony had his arms crossed and waiting expectantly while more than a few representatives of other countries looked on with expectation as well.

Ross deflected, stating he wasn't in office then to which Tony responded smugly, "No, you weren't. You were still a high ranking General in the Army. Tell me, how closely did you work with AIM or even Hammer Tech? Both of which ended up being corrupt to the very top of the corporations. Whereas, with Stark Industries, as soon as I learnt what my subordinates in the company where doing behind my back, I went out and dealt with the problems as they arouse and cleaned out the corruption in my company. How is that for accountability?"

Ross attempted to pivot by redirecting onto Bruce only to have Bruce point out all the illegal military operations on foreign soil that Ross had personally overseen and that the majority of the events where he had been out of control as the Hulk had directly involved those military operations or attacks from Ross on America soil. The only other incident that he had lost control was in Johannesburg and that was because of Ultron.

By the end of the second day, Ross was looking more than a little unsettled and Tony and Steve were sharing smirks. When they got back to the Tower, they found a mess in the kitchen where Laura had decided to have the kids help make supper, which was tacos. Peter was attempting valiantly to wrangle one of the twins for a diaper change, but George was wriggling around like a little monster.

Steve laughed and went to rescue Peter from his son, "Hey there, little guy, you need to stay still." Steve carefully took hold of his son's ankles to finish wiping him clean before deftly encasing him in the new diaper.

"Thanks, they get really squirmy when changing their diapers and I was afraid of holding his ankles too tight. Babies are so fragile to begin with and with my strength…" Peter looked embarrassed which caused Steve to smile at him.

"I understand. When I was first enhanced, I broke my fair share of stuff before I learnt to control my strength and it's nowhere near yours," Steve shrugged. "Plus, you don't have the experience of dealing with babies. During my USO tour, you would not believe the number of kids that were just handed to me to hold like it was expected. I had no idea what I was doing either."

"Good thing we had Clint and Helen here, or we would both still be clueless," Bucky added, retrieving a bottle from the counter where Laura had set it for Joseph.

Steve retrieved the other for George and both boys began greedily drinking from them as if starving. The men frowned as the bottles were quickly drained and they had to switch to a second bottle for them, "Helen, this is getting ridiculous, the formula doesn't seem to be enough for them. Maybe we should start them on real food. You already said they are developing faster than normal babies."

"Muscle wise, yes. It is fine to start at this point, so long as we don't over do it. It will definitely take them longer to metabolize at least," Helen responded with a shrug.

Steve nodded, "So, does anyone know how to make baby food?" Steve looked hopefully at Laura.

She laughed, "Yeah, I do. I imagine that store bought would get expensive pretty quick and there is the concern of preservatives. Fresh is better. Don't worry, as long as you know how to boil veggies and use a food processor, it won't be an issue. I think there are some left over peas from lunch, I can go grab them, throw them in the processor and the boys can have that too."

Clint smirked, "You think toddlers are messy, wait until you try feeding an infant baby food."

It did end up being a bit of a mess, but the boys also seemed more settled after having something more solid in their stomachs. Steve also noticed that it took them longer to wake up that night, giving him and Bucky more sleep. In the morning, Laura provided pureed bananas and strawberries for the boys, which went over well with the twins.

Then it was off to the UN again. Bucky was the first to point out that Ross was missing, and the Secretary of State never did show. He also didn't show the next day which was concerning for the team. Although, without Ross there, the questioning became less aggressive and more along the lines of assessing the Avengers' personalities, something the UN never really had an opportunity to do before.

It was the final day that shit finally hit the fan. Tony had a watch that kept him in the loop of emergencies and it alerted him that the Tower had been attacked. The UN session ended in a flurry as the team moved to get back to the tower. When they arrived, it was to find Hill in the lobby with their security personnel surrounding a bunch of military types in tactical gear, Ross among them.

"Wow. You really are a fucking desperate idiot," Bruce stated in awe as he stared at his former hunter.

"Those children are the bi-product of Project Rebirth and belong to the government," Ross snarled. "As does Steve Rogers and Dr. Banner, but I don't expect you nut balls to understand it. I don't expect you to understand that you need the government oversight and those idiots at the UN don't understand either!"

Steve and Tony just stared at Ross incredulously. Then they both looked at Bruce, "I think he has finally snapped, Brucie. Well, I also think that was a full confession of attempted kidnapping." Tony's expression turned into a smirk.

Bruce rolled his eyes, "I told you guys he was never going to give up his obsession. Could be worse, at least he isn't working with Jenkins."

"Yeah. Well, I am going to contact the FBI. They can deal with this piece of shit," Steve looked like he was ready to rip Ross's head off. Bucky looked even closer to the edge, him clutching his mechanical hand as if ready to pound Ross until there was nothing left but a pile of broken flesh and bone.

"Language, Steve!" Hill teased.

"Oh, shit Maria!" He shot back.

"You'll never win. They're still going to pass the Accords. This session doesn't mean anything," Ross snarled while Steve pulled out his phone and pressed his speed dial to the FBI director.

"Well, given that you haven't been there for the last three days, you really have no idea of how much that isn't going to happen. Even with Russia, China, and North Korea, none of the them are stupid enough to risk their people's lives over their own pride. Well, maybe North Korea, but I don't think even they are that stupid," Tony responded, his anger bleeding through. He knew that Natalia had been a goal for Ross as well. "I think that we made our point and even better, you just made yours on what you really want the Accords for."

With that, Tony turned, grabbed May's hand and dragger her to the elevators. He would let Steve deal with the FBI director. The guy liked Steve better anyways. Once they were in the elevator, he looked at her and smiled weakly, "Sorry. If you don't want to work for me, or whatever, I get it, I pressured you. You can still live here and work for that hospital you were working at before. Or you don't have to live here. I am sure you can find another apartment, or I can buy you a condo as an apo..."

May covered his mouth to shut him up for a second, "Tony, what is this about?" She let her hand drop so that he could answer.

"I have put your nephew in danger twice this month. If I recall correctly, you made a point of telling me that you would cut off my balls if anything happened to him," Tony responded bluntly.

" _If harm came to him_ , yes. Peter is fine. Those Hydra thugs had no clue what hit them, and Ross and his men didn't even make it past the lobby. Also, this week at the UN has reminded me of something very important. I remembered exactly why I became a pediatric surgeon. I did it to save lives. I can help save a lot more as the director of ECHO than I can as a surgeon in a stationary hospital. As for Peter, Ben and I raised Peter since he was like three. He is more our kid than he was his parents, though he definitely got their brains. We taught him that a good person helps those in need. I remembered that too. I can't really blame you for the fights Peter gets into when he is just doing what I taught him," May smiled weakly as the elevator doors opened revealing the common floor.

"Will you go out with me? On a date? No pressure, I just think I really like you," Tony blurted out.

"I'll think about it," May stated before exiting the elevator and eying her nephew who was in his Spider-Man suit and looking completely bored. Ned was sitting next to him holding an odd-looking gun. May noted that Ned also looked like he was losing weight.

"Hey, Aunt May. Since you're here, I take it nothing happened?" Peter asked, tugging off his mask.

"Hill had Ross and his goons secured before they made it to the elevators," Tony recovered from his bout of insecurity rather quickly. "Really, you would think that they would be at least as smart as Hydra but no, they are just military grunts."

"Daddy! Are you done with the stupid politicians?" Natalia had jumped up and ran to Tony as soon as she realized he was there.

"Yep. And even the stupid politicians could see how stupid the Accords were," Tony responded, picking up his daughter. It really did shock him at how quickly the little girl had wormed her way under his skin.

"Ned, why do you have a gun?" May redirected to her real concern, a teenager like Ned really shouldn't have a gun.

"It's an Icer pistol. Not a regular gun, it causes temporary paralysis without any long-term effects," Ned responded. "Hill gave it to me in case someone got passed them. I have been training on gun use. It's safe."

"It is a very good thing your mother doesn't know about this," May sighed before collapsing onto the couch.


	24. Chapter 24

**This is a fan made story. I don't own the rights to Captain America, any of its characters or any characters within the MCU… Much to my disappointment. This will have some violent content and possible triggers. Steve/Bucky Established Relationship. Constructive criticism is welcome but if you don't like it simply because you don't like the line of thinking, please don't attack me for it.**

 **AN: In advance, yes, I am aware the that Roman Catholic Church still does not recognize gay marriage. Yes, I am aware that they DEFINITELY didn't recognize it in 2015. Yes, I am aware that the US now had The American Catholic Church of the U.S. (ACCUS) that split off from the Roman Catholic Church due to the controversy surrounding the molestation of children within the Catholic Priesthood. However, all of those things are a moot point because that is the Catholic Church in OUR Universe and not in the MCU and definitely not in my mind's AU MCU. Thank you for your patience while I ignore the edicts of the Catholic Church now (Mostly because I'm Nordic Pagan and don't give a flying F*** about it).**

 **AN2: Yes, I am also aware that I haven't posted in literally six months, I apologize, I got massive writers block on the series.**

Chapter 24: A Wedding Finally

Within a week of the final session with the UN, the majority of the Nations that had been backing the Accords had backed out stating that there were too many risks involved by restricting the movements of super heroes. A few more were discussing an alternative proposal on how to handle criminals with powers or robotic enhancements. The emphasis being criminals, even more were urging for serious criminal prosecution of Ross after the attempted kidnapping incident at the Tower. With a full video of his confession, it would likely be the easiest case the U.S. Attorney General would ever oversee the prosecution of.

With everything quieting down a few other topics came up. The first being that Steve and Bucky had a wedding to plan and had been ignoring the planning part. The second was that Dr. Culver and Dr. Corrin were both of the opinion that Natalia and Rebecca should at least be enrolled in a high school for a few years to give the two children the opportunity to adapt to dealing with being around older people who were either on the same academic level or lower than them. Rebecca in particular needed this as she was at a college level in terms of most of her education and really was being held back. Natalia was already at high school level, despite being only four and she would need an opportunity to adjust to the difference in age and intellect level earlier rather than later.

Steve and Bucky weren't too hard to convince as they had a ready option available in Midtown Science which Peter and Ned already attended. The STEM high school was enough that it ensured a certain level of academia for the girls while having Peter around would give a good extent of protection for their daughter. It was Tony and Natasha who needed talking around. After several meetings with the administration of Midtown Science, the parents reluctantly agreed to allow their four-year-old to start school as a high school sophomore provided that _all_ her classes were shared with Peter. Ned would be partnered with Rebecca, a none-issue as he was eager to assist.

As for the wedding planning, Laura took over most of the work load as Tony's PA to allow Steve and Bucky the necessary time to plan a wedding before the end of summer. Fortunately, money talked, and Tony had plenty to throw at the problem along with a guilt about not noticing that his former PA was two psychopaths bent on world domination via their children. With super soldier serum working for Steve and Bucky, the cake sampling was an amusing afternoon. Tony had arranged for the three top cake makers in New York to be there at different times. In the end Steve and Bucky settled on three different flavors, a flavor for each tier of the wedding cake, the bottom and largest layer was Black Forrest, the middle was lemon crème and the top an Italian Crème.

The tuxes were Armani just because Tony was a snob who refused to even consider other designers. Still, Steve had to admit that when they were done, he and Bucky looked spectacular. What was much more amusing was the flower girls' dresses. Steve and Bucky had decided that instead of bride's maids, which was pointless as they had no 'bride', they would have Rebecca, Natalia and Sarah all be flower girls escorted down the aisle by Tony as Steve's best man and Sam for Bucky's best man before finally following up with Clint as a the 'ringbearer' to everyone's amusement. Thor might have been offended by being left out except Asgard didn't have such elaborate weddings and he would rather sit and watch with Jane. Bruce had outright refused to be in the wedding party, not wanting to draw any more unnecessary attention to himself. Rhodey and Pietro weren't close enough to Steve or Bucky to care. Finally, Peter was afraid of having to answer for why he was even _at_ the wedding by his classmates when school started, so being in the wedding party was a no-go, even if Clint was willing to sacrifice his role as ringbearer to the teen, which he definitely wasn't.

By the actual wedding date in mid-August, they had barely managed to get everything arranged, even with the convenient venue of the ballroom provided by Avengers Tower for the reception. The biggest mess had been the guest list that they had been required to include notables like the British Royal family and the U.S. President and his family, the British PM, French, Australian, German and Russian Presidents. As such, security was ratcheted up beyond all belief, but the wedding of two Avengers was the equivalent of a British Royal wedding and would not be ignored by the world.

The wedding itself was being held at St. James's Basilica, where Steve and Bucky had both been baptized way back in the day. Fortunately, the Catholic Church had altered their stance on Gay Marriage or they would have had to find somewhere else to get married. One particularly awkward part of the preparations did occur in the arrangements of the church though. Steve learnt that the church had had him sainted years before and the Pope wished to attend the wedding. Bucky had found it hilarious but had no objections. Steve was extremely uncomfortable but decided that if they were already having so many major names coming anyways, they might as well add one more. The security was tight enough that it wasn't like someone would succeed in killing any of them, mainly because there were probably too many targets to choose from.

The night before the wedding, Steve found himself being kidnapped by Tony, Bruce, Sam, Rhodey and Thor for his Bachelor party. He found it extremely ridiculous but as the night consisted of beers and 'back in the day' stories, Steve sharing his and Tony sharing his father's version of events, it wasn't horrible. It also helped that Steve knew Bucky was enduring the same thing with Laura, Nat, Clint and the twins. The kids were being watched by Peter who sent several pictured of Natasha and Sarah climbing him like a tree with the twins in the background. Presumably, Rebecca was taking the pictures.

The morning of his wedding, Steve was suddenly grateful for his enhanced metabolism. Only a few of them were sporting hangovers. Tony, Thor, Nat, Bruce, Bucky and Steve were perfectly fine. Wanda and Pietro were only slightly hungover thanks to their powers. It was Clint, Laura, Rhodey and Sam who were the ones sporting massive headaches. The rest were either immune due to their metabolisms or hadn't drunk any alcohol, those being Nat, Bruce, and Tony.

Steve, however, hadn't slept well because he had become accustomed to sleeping with Bucky beside him again. His morning had started well though. May had sent him a picture of Peter in a pile of sleeping children, all of whom were sleeping on a pile of pillows in a makeshift sheet fort that looked massive. Tony snorted and commented that it must have taken them half the night to build one that big and Peter probably used webbing to keep it erect. It was still an adorable photo, though not one he was willing to share on social media.

Instead, Steve let Laura take pictures of him and the others while they were getting dressed for the wedding. She posted them on Twitter and Facebook with a #AvengersOTPStucky. It was silly but within fifteen minutes the hashtag was trending and well wishes were pouring in. There were plenty of bigots making comments on it, but they were overwhelmed by the positive posts. It was nice to see that so many people supported his marriage.

Once he was fully dressed, he double checked for his personal vows and smiled as he read through them. Clint assured him that he had the rings secure and they were off for the church. Tony teased Steve about cold feet. Steve snorted at the very suggestion if it, "Tony, I have waited more than seventy years for today. I assure you, my feet are perfect human temperature. This is the best day of my life. I just hope it isn't ruined by some nut job or Hydra attack." After he said that, Steve knocked his fist against the wooden paneling of the limo.

"Feeling a little superstitious? Don't worry, nothing will go wrong. If it does, Thor, Rhodey and I can handle it. It's not like we are looking at another alien invasion," Tony smiled. He didn't believe in jinxes. If they had existed, Natalia would definitely not be his only child.

Steve smiled at the reassurance. As they got to the church he saw the massive crowds outside. The majority consisted of things like 'Congratulations' or 'I heart Stucky'. There was also a mass of press outside. Finally, Tony snorted as he noticed a small group that was getting glares from the people their to support the marriage, "Hey! Look at that! You got the West Bourgh Baptist Church out. _And_ the Jesus cosplayer! That's hilarious!" Tony snapped a photo and posted it on Twitter with a 'Some people are real hypocrites. If they were in danger of a villain's attack guaranteed they would be screeching for Cap to save them. #AvengersOTPStucky.'

Steve rolled his eyes at Tony before climbing out of the limo to a mass of screams. He and the others with him waved in amusement before heading into the church quickly. It had been settled that the two of them would walk down the aisle together. Everyone waited in a room off to the side, when Bucky had attempted to kiss Steve, Nat stopped him with a 'save that for the vows'.

Nat and Thor kept an eye on the guests arriving while they waited. Once the seats were full, and it was time, those not in the wedding party went to take their seats. Nat signaled the music to start just after she took her seat. Tony started with escorting Rebecca down the aisle. Next came Sam with Natalia. Finally, Clint came down the aisle with his pillow holding the rings and Sarah. Each of the girls spreading different types of flower petals.

The music changed, and Bucky and Steve walked down the aisle with arms linked. At the alter the Arch Bishop of the district waited to marry them while the Pope stood off to the side to give his blessing after the ceremony. The ceremony proceeded, with the Bishop reading out the passages and prayers required before they gave the standard 'I Dos'. After that, he paused, "I understand you also wrote your own vows."

"Yes," Bucky replied in unison.

"Please, proceed," The Bishop suggested.

Steve pulled out his paper with the vows on it, "Bucky, James. We met in an alleyway not far from here, eighty-three years ago. I was being beaten for coming to some old lady's defense because of some reason I can't even remember. You saved me that day and my whole world changed. My whole perception of reality changed. We had each other's backs no matter what and with you in my life, my mother wasn't the only one who cared. Then, you became more to me.

"You became everything. But the times didn't allow it. When you first kissed me, it was illegal, but I didn't care, because how could something so perfect, so pure, be wrong? You didn't care either. It was amazing, and then you went to war and I couldn't even go with you. So, I did something completely insane. It almost got you killed in the long run, but it also kept us both alive. Now hear we stand, men in our nineties who look like we are still in our mid-twenties. We have four kids, and what we are getting something we never though possible once upon a time. In all that time, one thing has never changed, my love for you," Steve smiled as he folded up the paper and let Bucky speak.

"Well, I don't have anything that elaborate. All I can say that when my mind was being wiped over and over again, the first thing that always came back was you. It was what saved me in the end and a testament to how much you have always meant to me. Now, we don't have to worry about that anymore," Bucky smirked.

"Now, you shall exchange rings," The Bishop stated and looked to Clint who held them out to Bucky and Steve.

Steve took Bucky's metal hand and slide the ring onto it. They had make sure that it would fit perfectly on the metal. Bucky took the second ring and slid it onto Steve's hand. Then the pope came forward, gave the prayer and then they were presented as spouses. There was a bit of a murmur when they were announced as Captain and Mr. Barnes, but Steve just laughed. He had made no notice to anyone about the plans. Still, their reception would be interesting. They rode back to the tower with their kids. The others had promised to watch them closely while the pair where on their Honeymoon, on a private property in Hawaii.

The reception required Bucky and Steve to mingle with the masses of guests. The German president apologized for the continuance of Hydra all these years despite their country's best efforts. The Pope went on a long spiel about how God must have truly agreed that Homosexuality was okay if he went to such lengths to keep Steve and Bucky alive and together and that they were excellent examples of what God could do when the soul is filled good intentions and faith strong. He even made a hint of the idea of Sainting Bucky as well which Bucky barely held back his amusement at.

"Well, from the Catholic Church's perspective, we must genuinely seem like walking miracles. Erskine's research or not. Besides, from a normal person's perspective, we must look like we fought one of the Devil's worst demons in defeating Schmitt," Steve reiterated Bucky's own statement back to him from when he found out about the Pope attending the wedding.

Bucky just pointed out that it was hilarious that they thought making him a saint was a good idea considering the length of time he was the Winter Soldier and what he had done. Steve argued that he had had little to no control during that time, and any time he _had_ had control, he'd made an effort to resist. Bucky shrugged it off with dinner and the cake cutting. He made a point of smashing the cake firmly into Steve's mouth, making a mess. Steve was less messy, being Steve, but eager to participate in the tradition. A few select news outlets had been allowed to attend the wedding ceremony but hadn't been invited to the reception. Instead, Steve and Bucky had hired Peter to photograph everything, to justify his being there, it also kept him out of the pictures.

Eventually, it was time for Steve and Bucky to leave, and they both made a point of giving the kids big hugs before handing them off to Clint and Laura, who were nominally watching them, though it would really be a team effort. The limo took them to a private airport, Steve and Bucky taking a private plane. The two curled into each other as the flight took off.

"You know, I think this is the first time we have been genuinely alone in this century without any risks or dangers hanging immediately overhead," Steve pointed out. "No need to go for immediate rescues or people potentially interrupting us, or kids around."

"It's too quiet…" Bucky stated almost immediately, causing Steve to burst into laughter.

"It really is, isn't it. I never thought I'd see the day with four kids, you, me, one big family if six. I know most parents would have quailed under the sudden weight of it, to young girls and twin baby boys, but I wouldn't trade them for anything. Up side is that once we settle this mess with Jenkins and Hydra, the six of us can get a nice house in Brooklyn and remind the world that we are just a couple guys from Brooklyn," Steve kissed Bucky's cheek.

"We were never just kids from Brooklyn, Steve. You were noble enough to act to save every person you ever saw in danger, despite not having the height or stature for it until you suddenly did. Then you went after bigger, more massively dangerous bullies. I know you think that it's ridiculous that you were sainted, but let's be honest, if you hadn't, it would have been ignoring the blatant miracle you always have been," Bucky stated, the private stewardess, curtesy of Tony, offered them some small amount of food, as it would be a bit of a time difference in Hawaii.

They ate it willingly and spent the remainder of the flight making out. It was still late when the flight landed, time difference or no, because of the length of the flight. There was a car waiting and the pair were taken to a massive house with way too much space, overlooking a massive private beach, the sand was white, the view stunning. Steve suddenly burst into laughter at the ridiculousness of the situation.

Bucky looked at him in shock, "What's so funny?"

"Th-think about it, Buck. We are both simultaneously the luckiest and unluckiest bastards to have ever lived. On the one hand, we were born during the first world war, clearly poor. My dad dead before I was even born and your dad struggling with Shell Shock. I was born with the kind of conditions that made me super susceptible to things like the Spanish Flu and Polio, both of which were rampant at the time, yet we survived all that. We survived it all, only to fall into the best, most enviable love imaginable, only to have keep it carefully concealed because it was banned by the Church and just straight up illegal at the time.

"Then you went to war, were in the unluckiest platoon, that got taken and experimented on by Hydra. Meanwhile, I didn't even qualify to join the military, only then Erskine happened, not caring about my physical issues, only my personality. Somehow, I got selected to be the first super soldier, but just as the procedure is finishing, Erskine is killed. I was a super soldier that had to be a dancing monkey for USO tours for bonds. Then, when I _finally_ get over to where your fighting, you are already captured. I have to mount a one man rescue mission that was essentially a suicide mission, but despite everything going perfectly sideways, we got most of the prisoners out safely. Though we didn't know that Zola had recreated the serum and injected you with it.

"Then, after all that, we fight Hydra, we do what no one else seemed able to, but just as we are about to finish the task of wiping them out, you fall off a train. I'm convinced you didn't survive because, who could? But you some how do survive, get taken prisoner again and spend the next seventy odd years being tormented by Hydra, all the while, I took out Schmitt, think I succeeded, but have to down the plane in the arctic circle to keep it from wiping out a massive population, end up frozen, again something that no human should have survived but I did.

"When I finally wake up in this time, everything is topsy-turvy and then New York occurs. Then D.C. occurs, only I find out the Hydra and you are both alive at the same time and if that didn't blow my mind, I can't say what will. Still, we somehow survived that as well. Then Sokovia occurred, and I face a near world ending cataclysm that I have to stop with the Avengers, but it brings us Wanda. You start to remember properly, but have weird commands, we get Wanda to remove them, find out that Hydra created four kids with our DNA. But now, we can get married and be a family sure, we're still fighting Hydra seventy years later, but look at the damned view, Buck. We went from legitimately huddling together in a miserable, tiny bed to stay warm because we couldn't afford the cost of heating and food at the time, to standing in a mansion, in Hawaii, looking out at a private beach that is owned by a close friend. We have no health risks, no starvation risks, none of it," Steve finished his rant, long after Bucky had tucked him tight within his arms.

"That just means the Pope is right, God put us through the worst trials and tribulations to test us, and we proved we were worthy of all the miracles we've received in response. We've been tested, persevered, and now we are rewarded. Sure, we still have to fight the evil that persists in this world, but we would have done that anyways. You always lead me into the craziest, most dangerous situations, but we've always come out on top in the end. We'll deal with Jenkins, then, we will have our happily ever after fighting evil robots, or aliens, or zombies, or just plan bad guys," Bucky stated before stripping Steve where they were. "Let's enjoy the moment of peace though and go skinny dipping."

Steve burst into laughter, but didn't argue, allowing Bucky to finish stripping them both and pull him out of the house and down the beach to swim in the warm Pacific waters.


	25. Chapter 25

**This is a fan made story. I don't own the rights to Captain America, any of its characters or any characters within the MCU… Much to my disappointment. This will have some violent content and possible triggers. Steve/Bucky Established Relationship. Constructive criticism is welcome but if you don't like it simply because you don't like the line of thinking, please don't attack me for it.**

 **AN: For those who follow Agents of SHIELD, I am throwing everything from the Hive arc out of the window. Instead, Hive never made it back to Earth and the remaining monolith stones were destroyed by Daisy and Andrew Garner wasn't human and died when he got hit with the Terrigen so no Lash.**

 **AN2: Merry Christmas! Enjoy your present!**

Chapter 25: The Best Laid Plans

The honeymoon for Steve and Bucky was supposed to last a full week. They were insanely bored by the third day and desperately missing their kids. Steve had commented that it was odd that after only a few short months it had genuinely felt like they were a full-blown family. Rebecca and Sarah had turned into complete daddy's little girls with them. Joseph and George had finally settled down a little in sleeping for longer periods once Helen had okayed semi-solid foods and they required less feedings.

Fortunately for both Bucky and Steve, Clint and Laura seemed to have anticipated them missing the kids because they did their level best to send pictures of the kids throughout the day. So, the couple did their best to enjoy Hawaii, going to different attractions, while pretending not to be bored. By day five, Steve was thoroughly sick of vacation. Sure, it was nice just being with Bucky, something he would _never_ complain about, but it lacked the chaos and fun of being with his family. Bucky agreed, pointing out they should have ignored everyone's arguments and just taken the kids with them.

It was that night that everything went sideways. They got a call from Clint telling them that the plane would be ready when they got to the airport, but to get back to New York immediately because the kids had been taken.

 **Five Hours Previously**

It was a Friday night and Peter, Ned, Natalia, and Rebecca were sitting in a group discussing what high school was like, mostly for the sake of the girls who had never attended any school to begin with. They were mid-discussion when the Avengers Assemble alert went off. Peter's head shot up, "FRIDAY, what's going on?"

"There appears to be a large-scale attack in Queens involving a large number of robots. The Boss has activated the Iron Family protocol and asks that once the girls have been taken by their armor, you suit up. Maria Hill has ordered Ned down to the security department immediately," FRIDAY responded swiftly.

Less than a minute later the two suits designed for Rebecca and Natalia arrived. Peter and Ned got them into them quickly before they closed and took off out a window that had opened while they got the girls in the suits. Once they were gone, both Peter and Ned headed directly to the elevator. Peter went to the team room which was the same floor as the QuinJet bay. Ned only had one more floor to go after that. Peter changed quickly, finding it odd that he was about to participate in his first official mission as an Avenger.

Once he was changed, he joined the rest of the team assembled in the QuinJet bay. Tony nodded to him while his aunt frowned but didn't comment, May was dressed for work, "Alright, this is an all-hands situation. Looks like AIM has gotten back up and running without Killian, not sure how. The robots are wreaking havoc all over Queens. We all take the fastest route to the area. That means Thor, Vision, and me at the vanguard and the rest of you following immediately behind in the QuinJet. Barton, once you land on a good rooftop, set up shop. Peter, make sure you have ample webbing. Disable or destroy as possible goes for everyone. May, get your ECHO jet set up in a good park close enough to the action that the injured can get there easily, but not so close that you become an immediate target. Once your team is down, let us know where so we can evac the injured there and provide cover. All clear? Good."

Tony finished as soon as everyone was nodding heads and his helmet fell into place before he took off, followed immediately by Thor and Vision. Peter spared a glace at his aunt as he followed the rest of the team into the QuinJet while she went to brief the medical response personal. Fortunately, Peter already had his mask on, so no one could read the concern on his face. He heard the chatter of communications coming through the earpiece built into his suit. Once the QuinJet was up, Peter grabbed a couple extra cartridges of webbing from a gear rack and attached them to his belt.

"Spidey, once we land, we'll need you to get me and Pietro to the ground quickly. Then you can do your thing. Focus on disabling the robots, we'll go in for the kill once they're down," Black Widow was cold in her tone of voice, Peter realized. She was completely different at work than when she was just Nat.

"Understood," Peter nodded. They landed almost immediately after his response, the flight was less than two minutes due to proximity of the fight.

Once the QuinJet was down, the team rushed out. Peter paused while Quick Silver and Black Widow got a good hold on him before quickly lowering them all to the ground. Once down, he swiftly climbed a building and got to work swinging around and hitting every robot he could with the specialized EMP webbing that Tony and he had designed. As the robots dropped, he made sure they wouldn't land on anyone before moving onto the next. Once an area was clear, he checked if there was any injured and those who could couldn't walk, he cocooned and brought to the ECHO site his aunt had set up.

It took them a full hour of running around to find and take down all the robots. At some point SHIELD apparently popped up to help with the attack, one lady knocking the robots out of the sky with shockwaves. Even Peter was breathing hard once they finished. He then found himself being ordered to get any injured he could find to the ECHO site. This meant responding to cries for help and moving rubble for Peter as he was a heavy lifter. The oddest bit of the whole experience was that Ned had been assigned as Peter's handler, so on top of Peter hearing the rest of the team over comms, he also had Ned giving him updates that were being fed from the scanning units that Tony had roaming over the area. At least until Ned and Hill headed for the Upstate facility after the fighting ended.

It was a full three hours from the time that the Assemble alert had been given to the time that Peter was finished. By that point, Hawkeye had moved the QuinJet over next to the ECHO site. Peter slumped into his seat on the QuinJet, grateful to be away from the swarm of press that had arrived while they were helping the injured. Security personnel and emergency response personnel, like the police and firemen, had finally taken over, allowing the Avengers to retreat and rest. Once the others were on the QuinJet, Clint took off and Peter was finally able to pull off his mask and get a drink of water, which he chugged quickly.

"You did good kid. We didn't even need the big guy for this one. Which probably saved us a lot in terms of property damage," Natasha had sat down next to him, back to her more relaxed persona.

"Is it always that hectic?" Peter asked, he had only ever dealt with the occasional hold-up or mugger. This was his first big fight.

"It can be. It really depends on the circumstances. When we are dealing with a terror attack, which is essentially what this was, it tends to be a bit crazier because it's in a populated location which results in more property damage and higher injury rates. When we're dealing out strikes to bases that we've located, it tends to be more controlled. None of us were anticipating the extra participants though," Nat offered, she clearly didn't like the sudden reemergence of SHIELD either.

"Yeah, what's with the chick who could use shockwaves?" Falcon asked, he had arrived mid-battle as well. "She nearly knocked me down with one of her blasts."

"No clue, but I'm sure we'll find out soon enough. They're supposed to be meeting us at the Upstate facility, which is where we're headed now. I was under the impression that SHIELD was gone for good," Natasha responded.

Not long after, they got a call from Tony, "Guys, we have a problem. The kids never arrived at the facility." He reported.

" _What?_ " Natasha's voice had turned icy. "What do you mean they never arrived?!"

For the first time since his first meeting with Black Widow, Peter genuinely feared for his life simply because he was the closest person to her in a physical sense. He contemplated trying to relocate, but fortunately for him, she got up and immediately headed for the cock-pit of the QuinJet. Peter shared a horrified look with Sam. He felt the dread wash over him as the reality sunk in, if they didn't arrive at the Upstate Facility like they were supposed to, that meant that the Iron Family protocol had been hacked, most likely by Hydra and now the kids were being held by them.

It wasn't just Natalia, Rebecca, Sarah, Joseph, and George who had been taken, either. Cooper, Lila, and Nathan, as well as Laura had also been included in the protocol. The only family member of the group who _hadn't_ been taken was Aunt May and that was because she had been running ECHO on the ground. She would likely to be there for several hours longer. He had that small point of relief before feeling guilty that he had some reassurance while the others didn't. Steve and Bucky didn't even know about the situation yet.

As he was mentally analyzing this, the QuinJet landed. Peter swiftly followed the rest of the team off and into the base. It was his first time seeing it, but he didn't really care about that with the new concern. Ned and Hill were both already waiting there. Hill waved for them all to follow, Ned falling in beside Peter.

"What happened?" Peter asked immediately.

"We aren't sure. The protocol activated like it was supposed to, sending them away from the tower. None of us thought about it beyond that, because we figured it would run like it was supposed to. But when the fighting died down, Hill suggested we relocate to here because we would need to be here during the meeting with SHIELD, only when we got here, we learnt that the Iron Family suits never arrived, in fact, that the facility hadn't even been alerted to the fact that there was fighting in Queens. Hill got them to scramble the people for helping with the rescue and clean-up, but we haven't been able to get anything out of FRIDAY. As soon as Hill questioned her about the protocol, FRIDAY just started ignoring anything to do with it," Ned finished, keeping his voice down.

"Why weren't we alerted sooner?" Peter asked, his voice a little harsh.

"That was the other thing, direct communications with the Avengers and ECHO were down. We could hear you, but we couldn't communicate back. We think something was blocking it," Ned was just as worried. He had started becoming attached to the little girls as sort of younger siblings.

"Damn it, Я собираюсь вырвать ей горло!" Natasha snarled out as they arrived in the meeting room. SHIELD was waiting in the room already. There were five people total, though Peter knew there had been way more on the ground.

"And we don't blame you for feeling that way, Romanoff. However, we need to locate them first," An older, rather normal looking man stated bluntly. He clearly understood Russian, even though Peter didn't.

"Coulson, nice to know you're alive, only took you three years to let us know. I'd probably be ripping into you, but we have bigger fish to fry," Tony stated coldly.

"I understand that you're pissed. I can't even blame you for it. Honestly, we've been trying to keep our heads off the chopping block up until now. However, we have someone who is probably the best hacker in the world. Daisy Johnson, aka Quake. I believe you know her as Skyenet," The man identified as Coulson stated.

Tony's head snapped to the young woman who had been the one who caused all the shockwaves during the battle, "You're Skyenet? You don't strike me as a top-caliber hacker, no offense."

"None taken. I wasn't always a SHIELD agent and I only acquired my powers recently. I was a hacker before that. I've even hacked Stark Industries a few times," Daisy turned and looked at Vision. "I think Vision can confirm it, but that can wait until later. If we trace the hack on your systems sooner rather than later, we may be able to figure out where exactly they took the kids."

"I'll show you to the computers lab, shall I?" Vision offered.

"Right, get on that then. The sooner we know where they are the better. On second thought, I'll go with you. Nat, you work out what the hell has been going on with SHIELD," Tony stated, then he and Vision took Daisy and the three left.

An older Asian woman was eying Peter and Ned during the exchange but kept silent until the left. Once they did, she turned to Natasha, "Recruiting kids, Romanoff?"

"Oh, shut up, May. Peter accidently got bitten by a radioactive spider and got super powers. It's not our fault. You can take that up with Oscorp. We've kept him safe. He's Bruce's intern," Natasha shrugged. She had been the one who had never even batted an eye about Peter becoming a part of the team in the first place, though Peter hadn't figured out why exactly.

"What kind of powers?" Coulson asked, glancing at Peter and then Ned.

"Off the charts strength, extreme durability, he can literally climb walls, oh, and he's a certifiable genius, though I think that last bit was present before the spider bite," Hill responded. She waved for everyone to take a seat.

"It was," Bruce confirmed. Peter glanced at Ned and was surprised that his friend had managed to keep his cool so far. But then he remembered he had been training under Hill, the woman had been militaristic in her training of Ned. Something that was clearly showing now in his blank demeanor.

"Well, that explains why you lot were so determined to keep Spider-Man's identity concealed. You can't really go advertising that you got a teenager on the team. What's with the other kid though? He powered too?" The massive black guy stated. Peter wondered what his powers were. He was guessing it was something related to his size.

"No, he isn't, Agent Mackenzie. Ned was a close friend of Peter's who knew about his powers already. We felt it was wise to bring him into the security team, so we didn't get any accidental leaks. Ned's proven worth the effort I've put into him. You wouldn't recognize him from the boy who joined us only two months ago," Hill actually sounded a little proud of Ned. Peter hid his smirk.

"We're getting off topic, how is SHIELD still active? We thought it went down completely after D.C." Natasha redirected the conversation. Peter wasn't sure why they were being included but didn't protest.

"Fury gave me locations of uncompromised SHIELD bases, funding sources, and a few other things. We even managed to keep the Iliad afloat, though that was a near thing and that was Gonzales's doing. We're building back up slowly, being careful who we allow back into the fold and vetting new recruits with extreme care. Hydra will have a hell of a time infiltrating us a second time," Coulson explained. "That said, we could use all the good will and backing that we can get, because legally, we don't have much of a leg to stand on yet, though we are working covertly with the U.S. government and the Air Force."

"So, you thought that coming in and helping with the attack on Queens might be a good way to build good-will? Did you not think that coming to us sooner and just letting us know everything would have been a better strategy?" Clint spoke up now. He had kept quiet the whole time.

"Told you so," May stated with a glance at Coulson.

He winced but gave a nod, "It was suggested to me, however, up until recent events, I wasn't certain how good an idea that would be."

"What recent events?" Natasha asked.

"You heard about the recent outbreak of powered individuals?" Coulson asked.

The group confirmed they had before Coulson continued, "We know what's causing it. Agent Johnson's mother tried taking the Iliad about two months ago. She failed, but in the process of stopping her, an alien chemical known as Terrigen was dumped into the ocean. This chemical is harmless to normal humans. However, for a small percentage of the human population that carry what's been dubbed the 'Inhuman' gene, this causes a transformation called Terrigenesis. It alters the person on a genetic level, resulting in powers and in some cases physical alterations to the body. Daisy was previously exposed to the chemical and had already gained her ability to manipulate vibrations. Since then, we have done our best to contain it. Prevent people from consuming the contaminated fish oil tablets by recalling them, banning fishing in the exposed area, but to be honest Terrigen's already been introduced into the eco-system and there have even been a few cases where the person in question lived on the sea coast and got caught in a rain storm and went through Terrigenesis." Coulson looked defeated. "Honestly, at this point we don't think it _can be_ contained."

"So, what you're saying is that the changes are going to keep happening? Is there anyway to reverse it?" Natasha asked. Peter's mind was already going a mile a minute though. Manipulate vibrations? Everything had vibrations. Everything vibrated at least on a molecular level. Agent Johnson could theoretically unmake people with her powers or destroy the planet.

"No. The changes are permanent. I had not known the Kree had come to Midgard. Terrigenesis was their means, thousands of years ago, to create a powered army. However, we have long thought that the whole experiment was a failure," Thor was the one to answer the question, surprising a good number of the Avengers.

"From the Kree's perspective, it may have been. According to the records of the Inhuman community that was previously run by Agent Johnson's mother, whom she did not know before going through Terrigenesis, the Inhumans on earth managed to band together and drive away the Kree. You can't really use a weapon that has free will and a desire to not follow orders from a race of alien overlords," Agent May explained.

"So, is there any limitation to Agent Johnson's power or can she shake the world apart if she wanted?" Peter finally let his curiosity get the better of him. "Because, everything vibrates on a molecular level and if she can manipulate the vibrations of everything than theoretically, she could destroy the planet."

Everyone's heads snapped to stare at Peter who suddenly felt the keenest desire to disappear into the floor. Instead he decided to defend himself, "I'm only asking because if she can, then she really belongs with the Avengers and not SHIELD, right? I mean, I'm an Avenger and all I can do is swing around, web people up and climb walls and be really strong."

Hill resorted to a face-palm. Natasha, Clint, and Sam looked like they were resisting the urge to burst into laughter. Bruce's expression had turned thoughtful. Wanda, Pietro, and Ned were all nodding along like what Peter had said made perfect sense rather been rambling. Coulson and May had both resorted to blank expressions. Agent Mackenzie was eying Peter incredulously. The remaining SHIELD person, a Hispanic woman who was tiny and spry, smirked.

Coulson turned to Hill, "A genius you said?"

"He suffers from severe word vomit, we're working on it. He knows when not to reveal information, so we at least don't have to worry about any accidents on that front," Hill groaned out. "He is useful, I swear. We wouldn't be putting a kid out there for no reason."

"Yeah, I noticed that when we were fighting the robots. He was bouncing around all over the place on his webs," The Hispanic woman spoke, her accent clear.

"Oh, we forgot to introduce you. This is Elena Rodriguez, aka Yo-yo, she's an Inhuman with powers like Quick Silver only she snaps back to where she started within a single heartbeat," Coulson pointed to the woman who just spoke.

Pietro immediately turned to Wanda, "I told you that I wasn't the only one running around at high speeds." His expression was one of vindication while Wanda's was baring exasperation.

"Yes, because that is what's important here, her speed. We are getting off topic again," Wanda was rolling her eyes.

"Not really, we finished explaining why we finally came back into the light. As for Daisy's powers, yes there are limitations. If she over extends, she can facture her own bones and certain frequencies can harm her," Coulson explained. "So, we should have some plan of attack once Daisy, Stark and Vision locate the base where the children were taken."

"Just another random thought, but this one is like a thousand times more important, has anyone tried contacting Steve or Bucky?" Peter suddenly asked again, realizing that Steve was really the head of the team and thus should probably be here, also it was his kids that had been taken too. This time the expressions of everyone who looked at him were pure horror.

Pietro immediately zipped out of the room, presumably to find out how to contact the couple who were off the grid besides what Tony and Clint knew. A few moments of silence later, Pietro was back, "Tony's calling them now. He also said to put you all up in rooms and for everyone to get rest while we can because once we get the location, we will all be gearing up."

Hill nodded, "That's probably wise. Ned, make sure Peter eats enough before crashing. His aunt will kill us if he ends up dead because he didn't eat. Pietro, you and Wanda as well. I'll call your mother, Ned, inform her that we had a sudden business trip that was unavoidable, and I needed your assistance."

Ned nodded. His mother had taken the whole internship thing with Stark Industries with a great deal of pride and had bluntly informed him that he was to do whatever was expected of him. Hill had made a point of being friendly and keeping her in the loop when it came to Ned, so his mother was happy to accept anything said to her by Hill as fact. Ned was convinced that his mother was so happy to turn a blind eye because he had managed to land a paid internship at the biggest Tech company in the country on top of being the only child of hers to go to a STEM high school.

Peter was ready to collapse from the fight, but followed Ned through the facility, which he _had_ been to before, to the kitchen, where his friend made up a stack of sandwiches. Ned handed each to Peter as he finished making them. Peter managed to finish four before dragging himself off to one of the open bedrooms, stripping and collapsing on the bed.

Clint filled them in on the basics of what happened while Steve and Bucky drove to the airport. They were told to sleep while they could, because Tony, Vision, and Coulson's star hacker, who was apparently the best of the best, were already working on tracing the hack on FRIDAY. The fact that Coulson was alive had been the least of Steve's worries. That said, he knew that he would get to _that_ when he knew the kids were safe. The flight from Hawaii back to New York was eight hours so he and Bucky forced themselves to lay down on the bed in the jet and sleep. Fortunately, their time in the military allowed for them to sleep when they told their bodies, regardless of their emotional state. That said, Bucky had two nightmares during the flight.

Ned was waiting for them when the landed, the jet going directly to the Upstate facility. The teen looked nervous but began filling them in, "Agent Johnson and Tony alternated sleeping last night to keep working on the trace. Vision fortunately didn't need any sleep, so he was working with whichever was awake through the night. Agent Johnson got a lock on a possible location fifteen minutes ago. Everyone is suiting up as we speak."

Steve and Bucky shared looks before allowing Ned to lead them to where everyone was gathered already. Steve gave Coulson a quick look of disappointment before focusing on the younger of the tiny Asian women in the room, who began speaking immediately on their arrival.

"Right, so, with Stark and Vision's help, I managed to pin the location of that hack to just outside Miami," Daisy completely ignored the insulted look on Stark's face at the implication that he only helped, though she had done the lion's share of the work in the trace. "It's in this remote portion of the Everglades that's conveniently blacked out on all government satellites. Looks like we still need to route out Hydra from the government, but that's beside the point. From the files I have from previous raids on Hydra bases, my best guess is this is their 'Glade' base that's been found in a few reports. From what I can tell, it's a research facility."

She shoved specs of the place over to Steve. He immediately picked it up, and began scanning through the base layout, "This place is massive, if these are right. Bigger than Strucker's place in Sokovia."

"Which means we need all the help we can get. Coulson's already offered to assist with the endeavor to boost our numbers. Agent Johnson here can manipulate vibrations, that one over there is Elena Rodriguez, she is similar to Pietro except she goes back to her starting position within a single heartbeat. They also have a guy that can generate electricity, one who can melt any metal, and a lady who can split herself into as many people as she wants, though apparently the electricity guy and the lady who splits herself are both primarily medical," Tony explained.

"They can and will fight, especially if it means keeping Hydra from getting hands on a group of enhanced children," Daisy spoke up. "Coulson's already put in a call to them. They will meet us there with the rest of our team."

Steve nodded, "As long as you understand that this is an Avengers run mission."

Coulson sighed before responding, "Understood. It's your kids at risk. We'll follow your lead on this one." With that, everyone was getting up from their respective positions. Steve and Bucky immediately went to suit-up before joining everyone where a few Avengers QuinJets and one very large plane waited.

"It's the Zephier One, plenty of space, pretty much a giant QuinJet,' Coulson explained. The SHIELD agents all boarded the Zephier and the Avengers boarded the QuinJets, with their security back-up on the other QuinJets.

AN: Bwahahaha! A cliffhanger!

The translation of what Natasha said:

Я собираюсь вырвать ей горло! =I'm going to rip her throat out!


	26. Chapter 26

**This is a fan made story. I don't own the rights to Captain America, any of its characters or any characters within the MCU… Much to my disappointment. This will have some violent content and possible triggers. Steve/Bucky Established Relationship. Constructive criticism is welcome but if you don't like it simply because you don't like the line of thinking, please don't attack me for it.**

 **AN: Yep, two updates for Christmas! Merry Christmas everyone. Plus, I'm not mean enough to leave you all hanging like that.**

Chapter 26: Mess with the Bull

It took two hours to get to Florida and another hour after landing to get them to a location near where the Hydra base was undetected. Steve and Bucky were both just about ready to rip a few throats out by the time they reached the point where they had to take the rest of the trip on foot. Fortunately, between Elena and Pietro, they had a near undetectable method of reconnaissance without putting anyone at risk. They both reported back that as far as they could tell, the place was armed to the teeth, brisling with guards.

"Of course, that could mean anything. How many entrances?" Steve asked.

"Two, the size of the place from the outside matches the specs that Johnson gave us," Pietro responded. "Most of it should be underground though."

"Which means my uses are limited," Bruce stated in annoyance.

"You're not the only one," Daisy pointed out. "Of course, I have a little more precision than the Hulk and more uses than just my powers."

"So, Bruce stays as back-up, Peter, you're probably best with back-up as well. Sorry, but the place isn't really built in a way to make you useful. Who else?" Steve turned to Coulson.

"Alisha, you stay back as well. At least for now, Mack you too. Lincoln, I know you hate fighting but we're going to need you," Coulson was blunt. Lincoln, a blond man of average height just nodded without protest.

Steve scanned through the group there before continuing, "Sam, you're probably best as back-up too. No offence, your wings aren't really meant for confined spaces."

"None taken," Sam shrugged.

Steve gave Sam a weak smile before returning to the group as a whole, "We'll need two teams for entry. The two best hackers should be split up, so Stark and Johnson need to be on different teams. Heavy hitters need to be on different teams so that puts Wanda with Stark. Thor, you're with those two as well. Johnson will be with me. Clint, Pietro, Vision, May, and Lincoln as well. Coulson, you, Nat, Rodriguez, and Bucky are with Stark. That splits up the powers pretty evenly, I think. Any arguments?"

He gave a half a second to respond before nodding, "Good. Get in position."

Steve was surprised when Bucky snagged a quick kiss before breaking off to his group. Johnson shouldered a pack, though Steve didn't ask what was in it. Instead, he led the group to circle the base to the second entrance. There were four guards standing outside the door. Steve nodded to Pietro who flashed away before returning, all four guards were now down. They immediately closed in on the door. Johnson eyed the keypad before shaking her head, "The thing is welded to the wall, no hacking it through wires. Everyone stand back, please."

Once everyone was behind her, Johnson held up a hand and slammed the door with a vibrational blast, which forced it inwards. The alarms immediately went off, "Sorry, I'll turn them off when we find a computer terminal."

Steve didn't argue, they had no time for that. Instead, they entered, and began taking out the guards that were swarming out of the doors. Fortunately, with Pietro involved, the men were all disarmed and dead before they could get off any shots. A glance into the first room off the entry hall revealed a now empty guard room with a computer. Johnson immediately took a seat and after a few minutes of typing the alarms went silent.

"We need to move quickly. The alarm apparently sent out a signal to nearby bases for back-up," Johnson stated.

" _Roger that,"_ Coulson was heard over the comms.

" _We'll be on the look-out and try to keep them off your backs,"_ Sam stated after that.

Steve confirmed hearing the responses and waved for them to proceed. The group moved out, checking the few rooms they passed as they went. There were some groups of guards, but for the most part, it looked like they had been taken out in the first cluster. Then the intercom system switched on and random Russian words started sounding from them.

"What are they doing?" Lincoln asked in confusion.

" _Trying to trigger Bucky. These were the command words that had been implanted in his mind that I removed. Do not worry. It won't work,"_ Wanda answered.

The two groups met in the middle of the first floor a few minutes later. Steve eyed them and noted that none looked hurt, "Status report?"

"We cleared everyone who came at us from our side. Next floor?" Stark asked.

"Has anyone found a stairwell?" Coulson asked in concern.

"Not on our side," Steve shook his head. "You didn't find one either?"

"Nope," Stark responded. "Looks like we are going to have to recheck all the rooms."

They split back off and began scanning through the rooms. Tony used his suit while Johnson pulled a gadget out of her pack that when it was unrolled and held up provided an x-ray through the walls. Steve couldn't help but think that it was nifty. Partway through the search, Tony announced he had found a secret passage. Everyone left off the search and regrouped with Tony.

It took a few more minutes to locate the switch to open it, only it opened a panel revealing a handprint scanner. Johnson shook her head, "Well, we can waste time with that, or we can go the brute force method."

"I am starting to suspect you are taking too much pleasure from your powers being useful here," May remarked wryly. Still everyone else moved back.

Daisy held up a hand and focused on the vibrations of the entry, breaking down first the outer shell and then the concrete door behind it. All that remained when she was finished was a series of metal horizontal bars that Wanda twisted apart leaving a gaping hole.

"Well, remind me to never piss you two off," Tony remarked casually as they began making their way down the stairs. Unsurprisingly, they encountered more guards at the bottom of the stairs. Between Pietro and Elena, the men were disarmed and unconscious or dead in a matter of second.

"Remind me to never piss them off either," Tony stated in awe, though he was certain that Pietro was being a little vindictive in his Hydra murder spree at this point.

"You know, he's a lot less obnoxious than you said, AC. Stark is almost endearing," Daisy stated getting nods of agreement from the other SHIELD agents.

"I stopped drinking and became a father. That changes a person," Tony shrugged. Even he was willing to respect that he had been a complete asshole in the past.

They came to a three-way split in the hall quickly. After a few minutes of consideration, they split into three groups, one led by Tony, Steve and Coulson apiece. Daisy and Lincoln were the vanguard of their team in the narrow halls. Elena ended up with Tony and Natasha and happily chattered away about how she was a fan of the whole saving the world thing. For a short while it was mostly the three groups clearing clusters of guards.

" _Heads up, we have incoming up here. We'll do our best to keep them off your backs, but you may want to keep an eye on behind you as well as in front. We're initiating a code green up top to keep them busy,"_ Sam warned.

" _Copy that,"_ Steve heard Coulson's and Tony's teams respond. Seconds later his group got slammed with a wave of guards. Enough that even Pietro with his insane speed couldn't handle it all. Instead, they were forced to half the group fighting the guards while the other group ensuring that they didn't have any back-up coming up on the rear. It too his team a good five minutes to take down all the guards before they could get moving again. Steve looked at Vision when the next room they came across was a large computer lab.

Vision quickly connected to the mainframe and scanned it before downloading it's entire content and then returning to the group who were keeping watch, "They children and Mrs. Barton are present in the facility. They are currently located on the fifth sub-level. Dr. Jenkins's presence is also registered as current."

" _Good to know. I call dibs on Jenkins!"_ Tony responded over the comms.

"Alright. Everyone locate the stairs down and expect this place to fortified and build like a maze," Steve stated as he and his group made their way out of the room and down the hall. The next half hour was spent locating the next set of stairs, all the way taking out wave after wave of guards both to the front and back as the occasional group that got past the Hulk, Spider-Man and the others.

" _Did Hydra resort to stocking this entire base with_ all _their low lever guards?"_ Johnson asked over the comms.

"It certainly feels like it," Agent May commented, she was with Steve's group again. Steve was a bit shocked at how well the unenhanced woman had been holding up during the fighting. Of course, a lot of that was well placed kicks and face shots. Steve had a feeling this woman had her own personal vendetta against Hydra.

Finally, once they found stairs, the last group to do so, Steve sighed in relief. There had been a lot of scientist that were being incapacitated only, as they weren't certain how many were willingly serving Hydra and how many were being forced to. That nightmare was for the government officials to determine.

The second sub-level was mostly guard barracks. By this point they had been emptied out, either having already fought the groups of Avengers and SHIELD or having gone to lower floors to secure labs and prisoners. The few that were still on that floor were quickly dealt with and they were moving onto the next floor. Of course, none of the stairwells went down more than one floor. He heard Stark making a comment about the building being extremely unsafe in the event of an emergency or fire.

" _Stark, these guys regularly experiment on humans and kidnap kids, forcing their parents to commit atrocities in their name. I doubt they care about their buildings being up to code,_ " Coulson responded. Steve couldn't help but agree with Coulson's point.

The third sub-level was mainly what looked to be empty classrooms with massive screens at the front and a few scattered labs. Tony got a sinking feeling as they moved onto the fourth sub-level on his group's section of the building. This was feeling like a lot more than the standard Hydra research facility.

"Has anyone else been finding _classrooms?_ " Tony asked as they made their way down.

" _Not on my section, what do you mean classrooms?"_ Steve's response was concerned _._

" _No classrooms but my portion of level three has a lot of what look like cells, like a dormitory with steel doors. We may be here a while. Daisy's working on opening them,"_ Coulson answered.

" _Understood, let us know what you find,"_ Were Steve's orders.

The fourth sub-level on Tony's section opened into what looked like a large gym. Half a minute after they got there, the room blacked out and Tony's suit stopped working, "Damn. It's an EMP. The comms are useless now. Nat, mind hitting the manual releases on my suit?"

Natasha immediately got to work popping the tiny latches and watching as Tony's armor fell away in pieces. Once she got his torso and arms free, Tony assisted in removing the rest of the armor. He was intensely glad now for the precautions he had built into the latest model of suits. He was also glad that under his armor was clothing made of polycarbonate materials that were bullet proof. Once he was out of his suit, he popped a hatch in the back of it and extracted a hand gun and three magazines of bullets.

"Huh, you're a fan of being prepared. Not that I blame you, one really can't be too careful these days," Elena commented. "Especially when you are that reliant on technology."

"Yeah, well, EMPs have really become a popular piece of tech for Hydra of late, so I didn't want to take any risks," Tony responded. "We're on our own from here on out though. Our comms are down with that pulse, though thankfully it doesn't impact our weapons."

"Kind of wishing we had Daisy in our group now. She can sense vibrations as well as manipulate them," Elena remarked as they carefully navigated between the gym equipment to the door on the far side of the room.

"That would be useful. Wanda care to light things up a bit?" Natasha requested.

A second later there was a red glow around Wanda's hand that provided just enough light that they weren't tripping over the equipment and they were able to pick up the pace across the room. Once they reached the door, it was found to be locked with no way to open it from their side. Tony looked to Wanda again, "Think you can take this door down?"

"It will not be as easy as they other one was, but it will attempt it," With that, her powers flared brightly, engulfing the door for a few minutes before there was finally a sudden crunch as the door buckled and then crinkled into a ball of metal scrap.

The entire group had to immediately duck behind the wall as a group of guards immediately began firing on them. That was until Elena flashed away for a moment before returning and the gunfire stopped. Wanda smirked, "I will never get over the convenience of having someone who can do that around."

"I know, right? It's seriously drops the danger factor on some of these missions," Tony agreed. He made a point of picking up a few of the Hydra guns and some more spare magazines. "I'll take these."

"Just don't shoot any of us," Natasha teased.

Tony didn't even acknowledge it as they rounded the corner and encountered another large room. In the center, Dr. Jenkins smugly stood. She was dressed exactly like she would have as Pepper Potts, something that made Tony freeze for a second. Natasha didn't, she leveled her gun at Jenkins and fired off her entire clip. All that did, unfortunately, was reveal that there had been a forcefield in front of her.

"You didn't really think that I would expose myself in such a foolish manner, did you Natasha? You should know better by now. If you want to keep breathing, I suggest you leave now. Give up on the kids, they were always ours. Back-up is already here and fighting your meager forces outside," Jenkins was cold. "I'm giving you this chance for old-times sake. Leave now, or you will regret it."

"Wanda, can you bring down that forcefield?" Tony asked.

"Probably not, but they can," Wanda commented pointing out that Coulson's team had come through another entry in the large room.

Johnson was already raising her hands and blasting the ceiling, floor, and walls. Steve's team came through a third entry. Lincoln realized that Johnson was revealing the generators with her vibrational blasts. He and Thor apparently got the same idea because they immediately got to work blasting the generators with bolts of electricity. Jenkins had fled once she realized that they _could_ get through the force field.

It was less than a minute between Johnson hitting the room with vibrations and the force field going down. The three teams merged and immediately headed for the double doors on the other side of the room. It was locked by the time they got there, but Daisy and Wanda had apparently liked working together because it was down in another thirty seconds.

Things devolved into chaos at that point. There were guards through out what appeared to be another gym. It was too many for the fast team members to deal with without causing risks to the others. Instead, Johnson sent a concussive blast across the room and then the rest of them either incapacitated or killed them, depending on their personalities and level of hate-boner for Hydra.

It took a few minutes to deal with the room of guards before they managed to get to the next door which was another stairwell, "This should be the last level." Vision announced as they got the fifth sub-level.

It was comprised of halls filled with a myriad of containment rooms, labs and guards. They got hit with another wave of Hydra at their backs as they started on getting locked doors open. Unfortunately, Daisy, Tony, and Vision were busy working on the doors. Fortunately, the remainder of those with and without powers were plenty happy to release some pent-up aggression on the Hydra thugs.

Bucky and May seemed to be taking a great deal of pleasure tearing into them. Daisy got distracted for a minute when she heard Coulson start shouting at someone named Ward, but refocused. A glance towards Coulson revealed a picture of anger that Tony hadn't realized Coulson was even capable of feeling. He, however, couldn't see the guy that invoked it because the SHIELD agents had apparently decided that he was a necessary kill. Tony focused back on his door and got it opened.

He felt his own rage spike as he found Jenkins in the room holding a screaming and struggling Natalia with a gun pressed to her head, "Don't think I won't Stark. I may want her and the rest of the kids alive but killing them is just a setback. I only need their DN…" Jenkins stopped talking and dropped like a rock when a shot was fired from over Tony's shoulder. It hit her right between the eyes. Tony glanced for as second behind him to see Clint looking just as pissed as he felt. Of course, that was reasonable, the woman did kidnap his wife and children. The rest of the fighting appeared to be over. The Hydra back-up dead on the ground.

Tony pushed that aside as he rushed to Natalia and checked to ensure she was okay. Her curls were a wild mess and she was trembling a bit, but she immediately lunged into her father's arms. Natasha was just behind Tony into the room and swiftly removed Natalia from his arms so that Tony could get to work on the remaining doors. The door that Vision had gotten opened revealed the twins and Nathan with a petrified Laura clutching them close. Daisy's door had revealed Sarah and she and Vision were working on two of the other doors. Tony got to an unopened door and set to work.

The door, once he got it open, revealed Lila. She streaked to him immediately and clung tight until she saw Clint, screeched 'Daddy' and slammed into her father. Cooper was already there, having been released by Daisy. Steve and Bucky were in a huddle with Sarah and Rebecca as well while Pietro and Wanda held the twins close.

The SHIELD agents withdrew a little, allowing the Avengers their reunion with their children and keeping an eye out for more Hydra scum. Once everyone had sorted through their emotions a little, they immediately began to work their way out of the base, only pausing briefly on the third level when Coulson and Johnson revealed that the 'cells' they had found contained teenaged Hydra recruits who were there for training in addition to a 'high school' education. Hill and the back-up group, minus Bruce who was still in Hulk form waiting for his 'lullaby', had met them at that point, concerned when they had lost comms with the infiltration teams.

"Not to worry, we have plenty of Hydra idiots to hand over to the government," Hill stated.

"We also cut off two heads," Coulson informed her. "Barton took out Jenkins and May was the one who go the pleasure of destroying Ward."

"Oh? You finally got Ward? I didn't know that he had rejoined Hydra," Hill responded.

At that point, the Avengers finished leaving the base while Johnson and the remainder of SHIELD began opening up the cells containing Hydra recruits and arresting them. Steve shuttered at the idea of that kind of recruitment process. He wondered who Ward was but was more focused on getting his children out of the base and back to safety. Tony and Vision had already begun discussing developing a new, more secure AI for running the various Avengers facilities. FRIDAY had clearly been hacked, though, to be fair, Jenkins had still been around at that point. It dawned on him that he was going to have to inform the FBI that Jenkins was dead, and they could stop looking for her. He shook that off though, focusing on soothing a still traumatized Natalia.

It was a bit strange for Tony, but Natalia hadn't been nearly this terrified the first time they had come to their rescue. Of course, that time she was _expecting_ a rescue. It was all planned by her, Sarah, and Rebecca. This time, they had no way of a way out, no way to get word to their parents, and they had been taken under circumstances that would terrify any child. There was a swarm of more agents heading into the base as the Avengers exited with the children and Clint's wife. They headed directly to the ECHO jet which had arrived during their incursion into the base.

May Parker and Helen Cho immediately got to work checking the children over. Rebecca, Cooper, Lila, and Natalia had been clearly beaten, though Rebecca's inherited enhancements had allowed for faster healing. After they were examined, Cho gave the girls and Cooper a mild sedative to put them to sleep, tucking them in on the stretchers.

"So, what happened to your suit?" May asked as she and Helen got to work checking the adults over. Peter and Ned were sitting nearby, looking like puppies who had been scolded, which Steve and Tony released May may have just done exactly that.

"EMP knocked it out. I'm sure one of our people will collect all the pieces, though it's as good as scrap metal. The only problem with having to use the manual releases is that they cut the wiring to release that area of armor," Tony shrugged. "No worries. I wasn't hurt. Kept to the middle of the pack after that happened."

"And Jenkins?" May asked, eying him in a way that Tony was confused by. May had been difficult to get close to, for all that he had _definitely_ tried to.

"Dead. Clint shot her while she was using Natalia as a hostage," Tony shrugged. He was well past the emotional attachment for the women he thought were Pepper Potts. He was actually surprised at how little emotion he had felt beyond that brief moment of shock in the room with the force field.

"And how do you feel now that she's dead?" May asked, pulling away once she was certain he was physically fine.

"Intensely relieved. A little foolish at having ever allowed her to fool me, but mostly just intensely relieved that she is gone and can't hurt anyone I love or care about again," Tony responded, looking May in the eye with another shrug.

"No urge to go into a rage or drink yourself into a stupor?" May asked, her tone carefully neutral.

"Nope. None what-so-ever. If anything, it feels like a massive weight has been lifted from my shoulders," Tony walked over to his sleeping daughter and gently combed his fingers through her hair.

May eyed him, as if assessing if he was telling the truth before nodding, closing in and kissing him full on the lips. Tony was too stunned to respond as she smirked after pulling away, "Good. I just wanted to be sure there weren't any lingering emotions." With that she turned to focus on the others who _had_ been injured in the fight.

Once Tony regained his senses, he turned to look at Peter who looked completely unsurprised even as one of the doctors was forcing him to put his arm in a sling. Tony looked over to where May was now tending to Coulson who had a nasty gash on his face that Tony had missed before, "So… Dinner on Friday?" He managed to ask hopefully to May.

"It had better be damned good food, Stark," May responded before sanitizing Coulson's cut and beginning to put stitches in to close it.

"Only the very best for you," Tony felt his heart warm a bit more. His psycho ex was dead and out of the picture, his daughter and the rest of his team was safe, and he had a date with a beautiful, intelligent woman who would make him _earn_ her trust and respect and not just toy with him. Life was suddenly a lot pleasanter.

Steve and Bucky had to resist the urge to burst into laughter at Tony's stunned expression after being kissed by May. They knew that Tony had been serious in his interest with her, but it was funny for them to see the notoriously arrogant and obnoxious man so shocked at simply receiving a simple kiss. The date request wasn't surprising in the slightest, as Peter had made it clear that his aunt was an obsessive foodie.

It took a while longer for SHIELD agents and Avengers security personnel to finish securing and bring up all the scientists and living guards. More than a few of the fanatical ones had broken the cyanide tablets imbedded in their teeth. After some discussion, it was agreed that they would do a debrief at the Upstate facility with both SHIELD and the Avengers. Mainly it was the Avengers that knew Coulson had an urge to ream out the new SHIELD director and fully intended to once they got the opportunity to.

 **AN: Only one more chapter left!**


	27. Chapter 27

**This is a fan made story. I don't own the rights to Captain America, any of its characters or any characters within the MCU… Much to my disappointment. This will have some violent content and possible triggers. Steve/Bucky Established Relationship. Constructive criticism is welcome but if you don't like it simply because you don't like the line of thinking, please don't attack me for it.**

 **AN: The final chapter has been sponsored by the on-coming large snow storm that means I get the next two days off, so I can stay up late (for a baker) and write!**

Chapter 27: All's Well that Ends Well

The trip back to the Upstate facility was relatively uneventful. Tony alternated his attention between staring longingly at May and cuddling with Natalia, who was curled up clinging tightly to her father. Steve and Bucky had made a little huddle with their three youngest in their laps and Rebecca snuggled into Bucky's side. Natasha sat next to Tony, her eyes focused on her daughter in Tony's arms. Bruce held Natasha's hand, offering her emotional support through what had to have been her worst nightmare. Clint and Laura had made a similar huddle to Steve and Bucky's, their three children clung close.

Agent May had offered to fly them back to the facility so that Clint could reassure himself of his family's wellbeing. Peter and Ned hung out in the cockpit peppering Agent May with questions, something that had Natasha wondering what had happened with the woman over the past few years that she was so much more tolerant of a couple of teenaged boys.

When they finally got back to the Upstate facility, the children were asleep or near to it. Bucky and Steve took a few seconds to situate themselves. Steve, being the taller of the two, carried George and Rebecca, while Bucky took Sarah and Joseph. Natasha claimed Lila as she knew that Tony wasn't going to hand over Natalia. She was okay with that as she had seen first hand the impact having the little girl had had on Tony. Although only a few months had passed, Tony was completely changed. Natasha idly wondered how she could have ever believed that he was a narcissist when she had first met Tony Stark. She thought about it for a second and figured that an apology now would just make things awkward.

It took them a half hour to get the children all settled into the bedrooms that the facility had for them. Peter and Ned volunteered to keep watch on them as Tony had deactivated FRIDAY. Tony declared that he would have to create a new, completely clean AI for running everything. FRIDAY had been outdated to begin with, the precursor to JARVIS. It was little surprise, in hindsight, that Jenkins had managed to hack the system. He smirked at the thought of having Natalia assist with some of the simpler code writing and then wondered if he could poach Johnson from Coulson to help with the project.

Coulson seemed ready and waiting when Tony, Clint, Natasha, Steve, Thor, and Bruce descended on him. The others sat back and just watched as the original team ripped into Coulson for allowing them to believe he was dead for so long. Natasha and Clint were particularly vocal about how the belief of his death had impacted them. It was just another example of how the children had altered things. Coulson was stunned by how expressive Natasha was when she let lose at him. Natasha had _never_ expressed her emotions so bluntly and thoroughly before.

By the end, it had taken a full two hours for everyone to unleash their emotions before finally telling Coulson they were happy he was alive, giving him hugs, something that stunned Coulson even further as he had never known Natasha or Tony to hug people. Still, they did so now. After that, they all went to bed with the agreement that they would start working on a plan for sorting out handling different situations and the like in the morning.

Two Weeks Later

Tony and Natasha had almost talked themselves out of allowing Natalia to attend Midtown Science. It was only under the consistent reminders from the rest of the team that they relented. Clint even pointed out that Cooper and Lila would be starting elementary school at the nearby private school without any safety net in the form of Peter being present. Of course, all the children had been injected with subdermal trackers that could only be received by Tony's new AI HELEN. Agent Johnson had agreed to assist him with the work of building impenetrable cyber security so that the Iron Family protocol could be safely implemented in the future as well.

All that said, Tony felt he heart break a little as Natalia kissed him on the cheek before getting into the car Happy was driving with Peter, Ned, and Rebecca already waiting. Tony resisted laughing a little at the sight of Natalia's Iron-Man backpack. Natalia smiled and waved at him as the car pulled out of the underground garage.

Natalia smirked as Peter adjusted her buckle on the booster seat for her. She was gleeful at being able to go to school. Oh, sure, she would miss her daddy during the day, but she would get to learn from him afterwards. Besides, this way, Peter had to pay more attention to her. Peter easily shouldered his bag when they got out of the car, the plan was that he would be carrying Natalia's and his books, something that was easy enough, given his physical strength. Natalia's bag would carry mostly her notebooks for the immediate classes.

The first day was always the worst, Peter thought, as they had the dull process of homeroom, getting their full schedules and then going to classes where the teachers just droned on about the syllabus. Natalia was intensely fascinated by the whole process, and the classes that Peter and Natalia shared with Ned and Rebecca showed that Rebecca was of a similar disposition. The girls had never encountered a normal learning environment before.

By the end of the day, when both Peter and Ned were carrying nearly double the books that all the other students were because they had the girls' books too, Ned looked at Peter and smirked, "Now, I'm really glad that Hill made me wear all those weights this summer. It makes this so much easier."

"I'm just glad that Tony made us bags that are tough enough to withstand the weight," Peter shrugged in response.

They all settled into the room that the decathlon team met. Flash, the school bully, arrived a few minutes later and laughed when he saw that Peter and Ned were sitting with little girls, "You get a new girlfriend, Penis Parker? A little young for you, isn't she?"

"Oh, I guess you didn't hear over the past few months. I can't be surprised because you never did pay attention in class. This is Natalia Stark, you know, Tony Stark's daughter. That girl next to Ned is Rebecca Barnes, the daughter of Captain America and Bucky Barnes. Ned and I got internships with Stark industries this past summer, plus my Aunt is currently heading up Tony's new ECHO program… and dating Tony Stark. It's less like she's my girlfriend and more like my super genius little cousin. Nice to see you too, Flash," Peter stated, feeling infinitely more confident these days, at least when it came to dealing with the likes of Flash.

Realization dawned on the bully's face as Natalia stood and walked over to him, "My mommy is the Black Widow too. She's teaching me how to fight idiots who don't know how to respect women. She says it's important that I know how because there are too many misogynists in the world." She looked up with a not so innocent smile at the much taller teen whose face was simply of a stunned expression.

Peter and Ned burst into laughter at the sight. It was going to be a good year. The rest of the team arrived, and Liz Toomes cooed a little over Natalia, to the girl's annoyance. Peter sighed, Liz was going to learn quickly that Natalia was big on being taken seriously.

Six Years Later

Peter tugged awkwardly at the bowtie of his tux. He hated these things, though he had definitely gotten used to them, between working for Stark Industries and being the nephew of Tony Stark's girlfriend and then fiancé. He fixed his hair a bit before sighing. It was for Aunt May, he reminded himself. The woman who was nominally his mother in all aspects. He was doing this for his Aunt.

With that, he left the dressing room and stepped into the room where the rest of the groomsmen and the groom were waiting already. Steve was attempting to calm Tony who was pacing impatiently. Peter smiled at the sight. Tony was formerly the consummate playboy. This was a whole new experience for his soon-to-be Uncle.

"Alright, I'm going to check on Aunt May, you guys have this handled?" Peter asked Clint who was attempting to restrain Nathan long enough that he could get the little boy into his tux jacket. George and Joseph had point blank refused to be part of the wedding and were with Bucky, already seated. So, it had been Nathan that ended up as the ring-bearer for this wedding.

"Yeah, we're good. We have a half hour, so make sure everyone is dressed, the rest of us have to start escorting guests to their seats," Clint waved Peter off.

Peter walked down the hall and knocked on the door that held the women. Natasha cracked the door to check who it was before opening it to let Peter into the room. Martha's Vineyard was an odd place to hold a wedding, Peter couldn't help thinking, when the groom was a recovered alcoholic, but then, most of the people attending the massive wedding weren't and Tony was trusted by this point not to fall off the wagon. His life was simply too happy for him to turn back to alcohol as a coping mechanism.

Peter glanced around and smiled at the sight of Natalia and Sarah decked out in flower girl dresses. His Aunt was pacing much like Tony was. She gave Peter a smile, "How are they all doing over there?"

"Good, all the guys are dressed. I just wanted to check-in, make sure you don't want to pull a runaway bride," Peter joked. "I'll help if I have to, but then we might need to change our identities, which I'd rather avoid, having just gotten my first doctorate."

"Oh, I'm nervous, but I know I want this. Tony's pacing too?" May asked, a little relieved she wasn't the only one nervous.

"Of course, he is. Unlike you, he hasn't married before. Never mind that up until you, he had commitment phobia. It will be fine," Laura reassured. "You two have been living together so long already that there isn't going to be much of a change, just a few bits of paper and a few vows."

May nodded and smiled more brightly, "I'm genuinely happy about this, it's just been a while since I was married, you know, and the last time… well no one was going to anticipate an Alien Invasion at _that_ time."

"It will be fine. Everything will go swimmingly," Darcy stated patting May on the back. She and Jane had moved into the Avenger's tower officially three years prior, after a lot of cajoling from Tony. "And if it doesn't, well we have enough bad-asses here to make whoever ruined your wedding regret ever considering the idea."

May laughed at that. Still, she paced a little more, until a knock on the door gave the signal that it was show time. The bridesmaids and flower girls flowed out of the room leaving just Peter and his aunt. Peter kissed her on the cheek, "Uncle Ben would have wanted you to be happy, no matter how you found that happiness." He stated sagely.

"You're right, he would have. Ben was amazing like that," Aunt May gave him a smile. "Well, ready to walk me down the aisle?"

Peter gave a soft laugh, "I've been ready for three years, Tony took way too long to propose."

May snorted as they left the room, "Well, he had some lingering trauma to work through."

"Very true," Peter nodded, recalling how his Aunt met Tony in the first place.

They walked carefully out of the building and down the path until the reached the bushed where everyone else was lined up. Peter glanced at his Aunt again and smiled as the music started and the groomsmen and bridesmaids slowly walked down the aisle. His Aunt looked stunning in a classic, timeless A-line dress, her sleeves just a bit of lace on the very edge of her shoulders.

As Natalia and Sarah turned around the bend, Peter refocused, eying Nathan carefully. The boy stood straight when it was his turn and he puffed out his chest proudly, making May and Peter giggle a little. Then the music changed, May took Peter's arm and they turned the corner. Peter resisted smirking as Tony's jaw dropped open a little. It was hilarious. Of course, he knew that his aunt was equally amused. The make-up had been light, intended to look as natural as possible, her hair carefully braided into a beautiful crown of sorts around her head. May insisted on no veil, pointing out that it was stupid when she was clearly no virgin and Tony knew what she looked like. Instead, there was circlet made of sapphire jeweled hair pins circling around her head, holding the braid in place. Altogether, it made his aunt look more like a fairy queen then a bride, but Peter had liked the look on her.

When they reached the alter, Peter swiftly got out of the way and Tony was a little too eager to take May's hands. Peter went and took his seat in the front row and pulled out his cell to snap a few discreet shots of the couple. Thankfully, neither May or Tony were religious, so unlike Steve and Bucky's wedding, it was devoid of the prolonging prayers throughout the ceremony, making it much shorter as a result. Peter glanced back at his girlfriend a few rows behind him. MJ rolled her eyes and gestured for him to pay attention.

When the ceremony ended, Peter was among the first to congratulate Tony and May, MJ was quick to join him and slid her arm into the space where May's arm had been while he walked her down the aisle, "You know, I like you in a tux, you look good all cleaned up. Of course, I also like you in your other suit too, that's still sexy as fuck." MJ's comments made Peter laugh a little. He was glad that Liz Toomes had pissed off Natalia early in the school year that first year he knew the little girl. It made things… cleaner when he learnt her father was the arms dealer that he had been trying to take down. It also made it less awkward as his previous crush had died quickly at the sight of her being a little too patronizing to Natalia. MJ had gotten in Natalia's good graces quickly though and had ended up being the better choice for a girlfriend too.

Later on, at the wedding reception, Peter eyed Daisy Johnson, who had gotten recently engaged to Sam Wilson, she refused to drink and his spidey senses told him there might be a new baby Avenger sooner rather than later, though, his Aunt was suspiciously not drinking either. He would have to ask her about that later, then he smirked. Natalia could use a little brother or sister, it would keep the tiny mad scientist out of trouble for a little while.

MJ poked him in the side, "What are you thinking about?"

Peter turned and smiled at her, "Just that a few interesting people are avoiding alcohol tonight."

"Oh. Well, that's disappointing. I was hoping you were contemplating this ring that was burning a hole in your pocket," MJ smirked at Peter's stunned expression when she held up the box holding the ring that he had be carrying around for the last few weeks. She could tell that he was trying to figure out how she had gotten it out without his realizing. "I felt the box earlier. I slipped it out while you were distracted."

"Are you going to let me ask, or you going to steal that from me too?" Peter asked finally.

"I suppose that depends, are you going to keep lingering or just ask the damn question that you already know the answer to?" MJ's teased, dangling the box in his face.

Peter snatched it from her quickly and then opened it, "MJ, will you marry me?" He looked so hopeful.

"Oh, I don't know, this ring is awful gaudy…" MJ teased again before taking it out of the box. "But I suppose it will do."

Peter snorted and took the ring back so that he could slide it on her finger, "I suppose I should be grateful that you didn't decide to make a spectacle and use the damned thing to propose to _me_." Peter kept a firm grip on her hand one the ring was in place.

"I'll admit, it did cross my mind, but I figured it would be tacky to make a scene at your Aunt's wedding. We should probably wait until they get back from the honeymoon to tell them," MJ stated.

Peter snorted again, "It's my mother's ring, Aunt May kept it for me, she told me that if I didn't tell her immediately after you said yes, she would castrate me in my sleep. If we wait a few weeks, she will kill us both."

Steve was close enough to watch and overhear the whole exchange between Peter and MJ. He resisted the urge to laugh when the pair went over to May and Tony and informed them of the good news. Tony wasted no time redirecting the attention away from him and May by cutting off the band, taking over the microphone, and announcing the engagement for everyone to hear. That led to a lot of laughter. Once the commotion died down, Steve looked over to where Bucky was dancing with their 14-year-old daughter, Rebecca. A small part of him, a very, very small part of him, was grateful to Hydra, after all, for all that they had put Bucky and their children through, without their actions, Steve wouldn't be sitting here, truly happy, in a way he had never imagined possible before.

The End


End file.
